Last night, fashion insiders made their way to New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, en route not to Paris, London, or Milan but a destination a bit more domestic. In fact, they never left the tarmac. Louis Vuitton staged its 2020 Cruise runway inside the spread-winged 1962 TWA Flight Center , a former terminal designed by late architect Eero Saarinen that has been meticulously restored and re-envisioned as a public lobby for a new hotel by firms Beyer Blinder Belle and Lubrano Ciavarra Architects.
The show was the first event to grace the newly restored space, which opens to the public on May 15. As models walked the classic Chili Pepper Red carpet and past the heart-shaped sunken lounge with penny-tile benches, Louis Vuitton invitees got a sneak peek at one of the year's most highly anticipated projects .
Models strutted the iconic Chili Pepper Red carpet in looks from the new 2020 Cruise collection, which riffed on a foreigner's vision of New York City.
The brand's artistic director, Nicolas Ghesqui``ere, collaborated with artist Es Devlin to reinvent the iconically stark (aside from its poppy-colored carpeting and matching seating) structure as a lush, plant-filled oasis. Models strutted the indoor bridge, stairs, and ramps in looks from the new collection, which riffed on a foreigner's vision of New York City: Art Deco architectural details, classic skyline images, and Wall Street suiting silhouettes were designed in colors both punchy and serious. Pots of bamboo sprouted from the sidelines, while ivy clung to railings. All the plants used for the show will be donated or composted, assures the brand.
Seats for the Louis Vuitton runway ascended the concrete stair landings leading to the terminal's original Solari split-flap board, which has been restored. MCR CEO Tyler Morse, who is developing the TWA Flight Center project, is a self-proclaimed AvGeek.
Louis Vuitton's 2019 Cruise show was hosted at the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, a 1964 modern art museum designed by the late Spanish architect Josep Lluís Sert. It seems that Ghesqui``ere has a pernchant for midcentury-modern venues. "I was lucky enough to have landed at the TWA Flight Center in the late '90s; it was something I could never forget," he explains of the inspiration behind showing his latest fashion designs for the house in the architectural icon. Though the terminal closed in 2001 and has sat empty at the center of JetBlue's hub since then, he believes the TWA Flight center is a "sanctuary" that, thanks to its renovation and reinvention, will "enchant anew." What's exciting about the project, and inspiration for the collection, he sums up, is its imminent rediscovery: It's "an uncommon place that yet is a part of American heritage."