Gucci in Times Square, Chanel in the subway… Europe’s luxury industry relies entirely on America.Image: REUTERS
From Dior to Louis Vuitton to Gucci – the big European fashion houses are increasing their efforts to win over the USA. With gigantic fashion shows, stars and cultural collaborations, the US market is becoming strategically more important than ever for the luxury industry.
May 25, 2026, 9:54 p.mMay 25, 2026, 9:54 p.m
Raphaëlle PELTIER, new york / afp / watson.fr
translation
This text was written by our colleagues from French-speaking Switzerland and we translated it for you.
Gucci in the middle of Times Square or Chanel on a New York subway platform: Europe’s most renowned fashion houses are increasingly organizing spectacular fashion shows in the United States – a market that is both a key market and a trend barometer for the industry. Dior, which presented a collection with retro accents in the colors of the American flag at the Brooklyn Museum in 2024, chose the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) as the venue for its Cruise fashion show in mid-May – a tribute to the golden age of Hollywood cinema.
The mesmerizing set-up designed for Dior’s latest Cruise collection.Image: www.imago-images.de
Louis Vuitton also used a museum as the backdrop for its cruise show on Wednesday: the Frick Collection in New York – just a few days after presenting a men’s collection inspired by the “Big Apple”. The French fashion house and the renowned cultural institution also announced a sponsorship partnership. Exhibitions financed by Louis Vuitton and free evening events are planned, among other things.
Louis Vuitton, on the other hand, has secured the Frick Collection for its fashion show this week.Image: IMAGO / ABACAPRESS
According to experts, all of this shows the renewed interest of luxury brands in the American market. “The Chinese market has been growing significantly more slowly for several years. The market in the Middle East is also weakening,” explains Pierre-François Le Louët, President of the strategy consultancy NellyRodi.
Despite the recent bankruptcy of the group behind the luxury department stores Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, “the American market (…) remains a safe haven” – especially against the backdrop of geopolitical and economic uncertainties, adds Serge Carreira, professor at Sciences Po Paris and co-head of the Fédération de la haute couture et de la mode.
“A lot of sales are being made in New York in particular,” says Pierre-François Le Louët. Thanks to the ongoing construction boom, new spaces for luxury boutiques are also being built there on a regular basis.
“Embodying modernity”
However, the big challenge for luxury fashion houses remains to reach as wide an audience as possible, explains Serge Carreira. Since the United States is “an enormously important cultural reference point,” a fashion show there makes it possible to convey “a specifically local message” as well as broadcast “on the global market.”
The images of Chanel models on the New York subway went viral in December and landed two of them on the steps of the Met Gala – the annual summit of fashion and celebrities – in early May.
Chanel on a subway platform in New York.Image: keystone
The images of former American football star Tom Brady and reality TV icon Paris Hilton walking the runway in Times Square for Gucci on Saturday – in front of Kim Kardashian, among others – went around the world.
Iconic 90s top model Cindy Crawford at the Gucci fashion show that caused a stir in Times Square.Image: REUTERS
The big European fashion houses want to continue to “embody modernity”. According to Pierre-François Le Louët, this also includes the prominent guests in the front rows of the fashion shows. New York Fashion Week, which takes place in February and September and is increasingly losing its appeal compared to its European counterparts, is to be reformed by 2027.
“In the short term it may seem as if Americans are being left behind, but competition is fundamentally a positive thing.”
Valerie Steele, director of the fashion museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York
These spectacular fashion shows on American soil “show US brands the enormous prestige of European haute couture,” says Valerie Steele. If you want to keep up, you either have to make additional efforts or take a different approach. And above all: “In general, this stimulates interest in fashion.”