Passport to paradise: A one-stop guide to this season’s destination shows

At this point in the year, we’d all like to drop everything, up sticks and go on holiday to somewhere quite nice. Well, turns out if you’re a storied fashion house you do actually get to do that (alright for some). While we all sit at home and live vicariously through our broadband connections, houses like Louis Vuitton, Dior and Pucci are enjoying the finer things in life, heading to 15th-century palazzo’s and artefact-stacked art galleries for their Pre-Fall, Cruise, and Resort shows (keeping up?). If you missed your connecting flight and weren’t able to make it out in time, then fear not: we’re here to bring you a one-stop guide to this season’s destination shows. Scroll down for more, and stay tuned for additional locations as we update this ongoing list.

For Dior’s Fall show, Maria Grazia Chiuri planned to open a dialogue between the cities of Paris and New York. “This Dior line is an opportunity to pay homage to New York, the megalopolis that was given – as a gift from the French to the United States at the end of the 19th century – a statue which has since become the symbol of this incredible city,” read notes mailed out before the show. Inspired by a chapter in Monsieur Dior’s autobiography detailing a trip from Paris to New York, Chiuri set out to use the aforementioned Statue of Liberty, as well as Paris’ Eiffel Tower, as visual linchpins for her transatlantic show.

On the catwalk this translated to an opening look with signifiers from both cities. There was the hulking leather jacket, perfect for an NY autumn, the felt baker’s cap, tipped to the side like a beret, and printed tights with the names of both cities splashed up the legs. Elsewhere, the US references came through in a Stars and Stripes pullover and garments printed with the New York skyline, while breton striped frocks and Eiffel Tower dresses flew the flag for the French. Towards the end of the show, more subtle renderings of each nation’s codes came through in beaded flapper dresses and fringed opera gloves.

Over at Louis Vuitton, Nicolas Ghesquière continued his tenth anniversary celebrations by heading to Shanghai’s Long Museum, the private art gallery founded by husband and wife collectors Liu Yiqian and Wang We. While precious works quietly slept in adjoining rooms, Ghesquière offered his own art curation, teaming up with contemporary painter Sun Yitian for the collection’s playful prints. Yitian’s work opened the show, splashing her renderings of mass-produced toys across satin skirts, dresses and some leather accessories.

As destination shows tend to do, the rest of the collection dealt in aesthetics of exploration. Jackets came sleeveless and buckled like they belonged to some sort of 1920s explorer, and seatbelt straps were looped round models’ waists as belts. Elsewhere, pants ballooned outwards as if their wearers were falling from the sky, and the parachute silhouette we’d seen on Ayo Edibiri at this year’s Emmys returned in satin and peacoat iterations. A particular standout were the football boot-heel hybrids that looked like vintage studs combined with a classic stiletto. It seems that even after ten years at the helm, Ghesquière continues to make these kinds of odd-ball additions to his sports luxe legacy.

When your home country already boasts balmy shores and Mediterranean climes, what’s the point in popping off on holiday? That was the thought process for Pucci’s latest show, as the label headed to the ornate Palazzo Altemps in Rome for Camille Miceli’s second ever catwalk. Inspired by a 1990s issue of Vogue Italia where Isabella Rosselini posed on a tiny island off the coast of Naples, the show opened with Christy Turlington in a billowing black dress, which was followed by a section of evening resort wear in earthy greens and browns.

Though the classic Pucci squiggles still came in aplenty, things took a slightly more muted turn than previous offerings. A selection of printed denim offered a more everyday take on Emilio’s psychedelia, while cropped tees and logo underwear added a casual flair to proceedings. Negative space was harnessed to a greater extent too, with prints used sparingly on hems and necklines, rather than splashed unceremoniously across. That was until a kaleidoscope of floor sweeping kaftans arrived towards the end, and Isabella Rosselini herself appeared to close the show.