We have long been seduced by tales of journeys, from Homeric epics to fables of the wild American west. Whether for education or entertainment, these stories invigorate the everyday with grandeur and discovery. “Volez Voguez Voyagez,” an exhibition by Louis Vuitton at the American Stock Exchange Building in New York City this fall, considers the luxury fashion house’s own journey through some of its most iconic symbols and objects. Starting with the house’s eponym, the exhibit details Louis Vuitton’s 280-mile sojourn to Paris, which he made on foot from the mountainous forest of his home in Anchay at the age of 13, as well as his son Georges’s 1893 cross-Atlantic sail to attend the Chicago World’s Fair. The multi room experience also traces the evolution of the brand’s designs, from the prototype of the infamous LV trunk, later used by the likes of Charles Lindbergh and Ernest Hemingway, to its status as a must-have travel accessory.
Volez, Voguez, Voyagez
Curated by the noted art historian Olivier Saillard, director of Paris’s Palais Galliera and a frequent collaborator of Tilda Swinton’s, the show is both biographical, recalling the Vuitton family’s roots as carpenters, and fashion-forward, examining the legacies of its latter-day creative directors like Marc Jacobs and Nicolas Ghesquière. From train to plane to sea, countless stories unfold, highlighting the fabulous design as well as the globe-spanning voyages that have ensued as a result. Timed with the U.S. opening of “Volez, Voguez, Voyagez,” which first premiered in Paris in 2015 and then moved to Tokyo last spring, Louis Vuitton will also host a special pop-up at Brookfield Place until March 2018, boasting a carefully curated assortment of fine goods and leather pieces. Combined, it’s a new kind of journey that you won’t want to end.
“Volez, Voguez, Voyagez”
American Stock Exchange Building
86 Trinity Place
New York, NY 10006
