Europe’s leading fashion houses are once again banking on the United States

Gucci in the heart of Times Square or Chanel on a New York subway platform: Europe’s most prestigious fashion houses are staging an ever-increasing number of spectacular runway shows in the United States, a market that is both a priority and a tastemaker.

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Dior, which in 2024 presented a collection with retro accents and the colours of the American flag at the Brooklyn Museum, chose the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in mid-May for a resort show paying homage to the golden age of Hollywood cinema.

On Wednesday, Louis Vuitton takes over another museum, the Frick Collection in New York, for its own resort show, just days after unveiling a menswear collection inspired by the Big Apple.

The French fashion house and the prestigious cultural institution also announced a patronage partnership, including free exhibitions and evening events underwritten by Louis Vuitton.

Experts agree that all this points to luxury houses’ renewed interest in the American market.

“In recent years, the Chinese market has seen much less growth. The Middle Eastern market is also suffering,” notes Pierre-François Le Louët, president of the strategy consultancy NellyRodi.

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Despite the recent bankruptcy filing of the group that owns the luxury department stores Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and Bergdorf Goodman, “the American market… remains a safe haven” amid geopolitical and economic instability, adds Serge Carreira, a professor at Sciences Po Paris and a senior figure at the French Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion.

In New York specifically, “we generate substantial turnover,” says Pierre-François Le Louët. And, with its frenetic pace of construction, the city regularly creates new spaces for luxury boutiques.

“Embodying modernity”

The challenge for the major fashion houses, however, is to reach the widest possible audience, continues Serge Carreira. As the United States is “a very strong cultural touchstone,” staging shows there allows them both to deliver “a specific local message” and to resonate “on the global market.”

Images of Chanel models on the New York subway in December went viral, propelling two of them onto the steps of the Met Gala, the annual gathering of fashion and celebrities, in early May.

Footage of former American football player Tom Brady and reality TV pioneer Paris Hilton walking for Gucci in Times Square on Saturday- under the gaze of Kim Kardashian, among others- was seen around the world.

For Pierre-François Le Louët, the major European fashion houses want to continue to “embody modernity,” and that also hinges on the celebrities seated in the front row at shows.

Having lost momentum compared with its European counterparts, New York Fashion Week, held in February and September, is the subject of a reform effort planned for 2027.

“In the short term, it may seem as if the Americans are being outpaced,” concedes Valerie Steele, curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. But “competition is generally a good thing.”

These high-profile shows on their home turf “remind American brands of the immense prestige of European haute couture, and therefore that, if they want to compete, they must put in extra effort or consider a different approach,” she says. And above all, “more broadly, it rekindles interest in fashion.”

By Raphaëlle Peltier