As the appetite for the finer things in life significantly wanes in China‘s vast luxury market, Louis Vuitton ups the ante, mesmerising its affluent fanbase with a brand new retail concept, if not retail spectacle: The Louis. A boutique, café, last but not least, an exhibition space rolled into one, you can’t expect it to be ‘packaged’ in a traditional way, can you? Well, it isn’t. Aiming to tickle all the senses, The Louis, situated at HKRI Taikoo Hui shopping centre, is one bold statement, and comes in the shape of an old-school steam ship. The concept takes ample cues from Louis Vuitton‘s 19th-century history of crafting trunks for transoceanic voyages, while also reflecting Shanghai‘s port culture as the former Gateway to the East. Mind you, in 1868, Louis Vuitton displayed a zinc-coated trunk which could withstand humidity and heat during ocean transport, and almost seven decades later, several modern architects were commissioned to design modern ocean liner cabins.
Mind you, they used Louis Vuitton‘s trunks, reflecting the fashion house’s ties with the Union des artistes modernes (1929-1958), an influential French association of artists from various disciplines. Consequently, the façade of The Louis comprises of gigantic stacked trunk, but as said, in the shape of a steamliner. Designed in-house, the entrance of The Louis is situated at the bow of the ship, on street level. right beside a large LV-shaped anchor. Inside, shoppers come across an array of different sections, each one showcasing specific collections of the large Louis Vuitton product range, including women’s and men’s bags, shoes, eyewear, jewellery pieces, pens, toys, and of course, guidebooks. Indeed, there’s Le Café Louis Vuitton on the premises, featuring an interior design infused with allusions to bygone ocean liners, and obviously, a stylish outdoor terrace on deck. Here, chef Leonardo Zambrino supervises a menu which presents the best of East-meet-West, the ‘Shanghai style’ that blends the best of European and Chinese influences.
Pastry chef Zoe Zhou adds to the gourmet sophistication with a wide range of refined creations. So, what else is on board? The Perfume Room recalls how beauty has always travelled with Louis Vuitton, from toiletry kit in crocodile and crystal to the elegant revival of scent in 2016 by master perfumer Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud. Historic flacons and the modern Malle Découverte are displayed as vessels of both scent and imagination. The aforementioned exhibition is a veritable treat for the Louis Vuitton fanbase, captured by a compelling scenography designed by architect Shohei Shigematsu of acclaimed Dutch architecture practice OMA. The exhibition actually begins on the first floor and continues through to the second floor, which leads to the gift store and onward to the retail. The show opens with a dual timeline tracing the origins of the fashion house.
One path follows its roots in Asnières, where the original workshop became a cradle of craftsmanship and family legacy. The other path charts Louis Vuitton‘s deep connection with the maritime world, from trunks designed for transatlantic travel to its role in historic regattas such as the Louis Vuitton Cup. After passing through the somewhat hallucinatory Trunkscape, shoppers enter Origins, a room entirely dedicated to heritage pieces reimagined through an innovative lens, celebrating trunks and leather goods at the heart of the Art of Travel. The Books section presents the literary lineage of the Vuitton family unfolds. Here, a rare collection of writings, sketches, and travel lectures by Gaston-Louis Vuitton, one of the notable members of the family, sets the tone for a narrative where trunks become libraries and reading is a form of travel.
The Sport section pays tribute to Louis Vuitton‘s longstanding affinity for motion and competition spanning trophy trunks made in Asnières for Formula 1, FIFA, and the Olympic Games among others. The Fashion & Leather goods section showcases a process of creative reinvention. On display are iconic Louis Vuitton bags such as Alma, Speedy, Noé, Keepall, and Petite Malle have evolved under the artistic leadership of successive artistic and creative directors Marc Jacobs, Nicolas Ghesquière, Kim Jones, the late Virgil Abloh, and its very latest, Pharrell Williams. Lastly, the Workshop and Testing spaces reveal how every Louis Vuitton piece is made to last. From the atelier in Asnières to specialist sites across France and beyond, precision and passion are at the heart of production. © superfuture
The Louis
HKRI Taikoo Hui, 789 Nanjing Xi Lu, Shop N211 (Jing’an)
200041 Shanghai
Telephone +86 400 65885555
Daily 10am-10pm
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
