Louis Vuitton staged its Fall 2025 show in a freshly renovated building known as L’Étoile du Nord, just steps from Paris’s Gare du Nord station. The location once housed a private rail firm, predating the country’s national train system, and its spacious courtyard—now cleared of office furniture—became the stage for Nicolas Ghesquière’s latest collection. In a nod to the building’s past life, the designer transformed the site into a stark waiting room, complete with unforgiving seats and flickering screens overhead displaying travelers on the move.
Ghesquière’s fascination with trains ignited when he polled his design team for their favorite railway-themed films. He had his own list, which included Wong Kar Wai’s 2046, Snowpiercer, The Brief Encounter, Casablanca, and a French feature called Ceux Qui M’aiment Prendront Le Train. Younger collaborators mentioned The Hunger Games and Harry Potter.
The show delivered a mash-up of worldly travelers and offbeat wanderers, each styled to suggest a journey in progress. Some wore bulky outerwear or cargo shorts with geometric sweaters, while others sported translucent trench coats in rubbery finishes and floral slipdresses. Blanket coats wrapped snugly around the body as though plucked off a train seat, and a few models carried accessories that evoked vintage travel: violin trunks, miniature vanity cases in retro hues, and even plush throws.
Draped fabrics caught the eye, conjuring images of luxurious night trains—an idea reinforced by hand-painted pieces that felt ready for the Orient Express. Meanwhile, reissued silk squares—designed in collaboration with Sol Lewitt, Andrée Putman, César Baldaccini, Richard Peduzzi, and Jean-Pierre Raynaud—hinted at the label’s ongoing dedication to art-world partnerships.
With rail travel as the central motif, Ghesquière’s cast of characters felt as varied as the films that inspired them. Some looked prepared for commutes; others seemed set for old-world adventures. The finale was more of a migration than a traditional procession, with models ascending to balconies above the makeshift station. It was a fitting conclusion to a collection that championed movement and connectivity, an ethos that Louis Vuitton continues to explore under Ghesquière’s watch.
