BarcelonaThis Thursday, Park Güell was the epicenter of haute couture thanks to Louis Vuitton, after a long relationship between the house French with the Catalan city. The Cruise 2025 parade had everything to bring together the most prominent names in the fashion and film industries, both national and international, and it has been. At half past six the first guests began to enter from the side of the modernist venue between the hallway of curious people and fans – separated by security fences – who welcomed each familiar face that passed through the entrance door with songs and euphoria. in the enclosure, which was not small.
The shouts of the public gathered outside in the shape of little flowers like “Guapa!” or “Give me a bag luivi!”, have contrasted with what was happening at the central gate of the park: a demonstration against the Louis Vuitton parade that ended in a clash between the Mossos and the protest participants. However, the event took place completely peacefully inside the park designed by Antoni Gaudí.
Once inside and with the clacking of the fans in the background, on the side terrace of the park the atmosphere became relaxed and sophisticated as we entered the welcome appetizer led by Nandu Jubany. Personalities such as Xavi Hernández and his wife, Núria Cunillera; as well as the football coach Diego Pablo Simeone; the owner of Santa Eulalia, Lluís Sans; along with his wife, Sandra Domínguez, or the influencers Nina Urgell, Gigi Vives and Mikky De Jong, partner of the player Frenkie de Jong, have shared space and have been able to taste Nandu Jubany's splendid menu in the form of spherical olives, gazpacho pearls and Parmesan Oreo cookies. The designers Juan Avellaneda and Custo Dalmau, the model Eugenia Silva, the singer and actress Ana Mena and the chef Rafa Zafra have also been seen. To toast the beginning of a historic day, it was served with a French touch of Ruinart champagne, or the alternative of a Vichy for the more moderate.
The guest list was extended to a second terrace of the modernist venue, with celebrities internationalas singer and actor Jaden Smith, son of Will Smith; the actress of Game of Thrones Sophie Turner, or the actresses Chloë Grace Moretz and Jennifer Connelly. Occupying a prominent area and always well accompanied by the owner of the house, Bernard Arnault, there was the singer Pharrell Williams, who this year debuted as creative director of the Louis Vuitton men's collection. On state grounds, the actresses Anna Castillo, Ester Expósito and María Pedraza stood out, as well as Victoria Federica, daughter of the emeritus' first-born daughter, out of a total of 600 guests.
Time passed and the sun has been dyeing the pine trees of the modernist enclosure, a sign that we had to make way in the area of the walkway: the first floor of the Hypostyle Hall, the labyrinth of modernist columns with views of the City of Barcelona. The starting signal for the models' walk was given at half past eight and, then, the show began. ~BK_LINE_HOP~
The casual aesthetic of the usual Cruise collections has been subordinated to the silent luxury, a trend of recent seasons, in the form of structural designs and neutral colors. The shades have been the sophisticated and irreverent touch of some garments, combined with noble fabrics and minimalist prints typical of the maison. The chromatic homogeneity of beige, white, ecru, black and gray has been broken with a common piece that all the models wore: sports glasses with multicolored lenses.
While the three-dimensional volumes of the styles recalled modernist curves, the flat-brimmed hats had Andalusian reminiscences. As for shoes, the stiletto heel has been displaced by comfortable sandals or low-heeled cowboy boots – some with bangs to complete the aesthetic of cowboy–. Transparencies, the other constant of the last shows and also present in many of the pieces this Thursday, have been shown with lace fabric that allowed a glimpse of the models' skin.
The Copa América, the pretext of the parade
The choice of the city of Barcelona for the French house has not been a coincidence. The celebration of the 37th Louis Vuitton Copa América championship – with the haute couture brand as the main sponsor – has made the location of Barcelona to present the Cruise collection ideal. In fact, the Parc Güell parade is the first of the actions in the program, which will include different events throughout the sailing competition that will begin in the month of August, with the main sailing competition, and will be preceded by a second competition, the Louis Vuitton Cup, which will be preliminary in the qualifiers.
But not everything is fashionable and sailing. The French house has also prepared a museum exhibition and other cultural activities such as the expected Barcelona Travel Guide at a pop-up kiosk, and a series of educational programs to support creativity and design in the city. "It is an immense pleasure to collaborate with Barcelona, a city that, like Louis Vuitton, has a vast heritage and an extraordinary passion for creativity. The Cruise collection show, which encapsulates the vision of the creative director of the collection woman, Nicolas Ghesquière, as well as the next Louis Vuitton Cup and the 37th Louis Vuitton America's Cup will, without a doubt, be the beginning of a long relationship between Louis Vuitton and the city," said the president and CEO of Louis Vuitton, Pietro Beccari .
What is a cruise collection?
Cruise collections – or resort , as the brand calls them – are a trend that has been born among haute couture brands in recent years. Precisely, Louis Vuitton is one of the houses that has promoted these collections the most, which, as the name indicates, are planned prior to the summer holidays and have specific characteristics. The first, and one of the most important for the consumer, is that they are usually more affordable garments for the pocket, because they are not part of the large seasonal collections, but rather they work like pills made up of functional garments for summer vacations. . Secondly, the desire to bring the collection closer to new buyers through lower prices is also seen in the fabrics, which are normally lighter and more casual than the large early-season proposals.
This idea was born from the need for haute couture houses to adapt to the speed of consumer demand. Although for luxury brands exclusivity and craftsmanship are two of the values that differentiate them from fast fashion brands, cruise collections function as a middle ground to satisfy the pace of the industry without losing the essence of the care of each one. of the pieces presented.
Under the pretext of presenting a collection designed for holidays, the shows are usually held in emblematic, exotic locations or majestic places in different cities around the world. Before the presentation of the Cruise 2025 collection in Barcelona's Park Güell, Louis Vuitton had also presented it on Bella Island, in Italian Piedmont, at the Niterói Museum of Contemporary Art in Rio de Janeiro or at the museum Miho in Kyoto.