The Palais des Papes added theatre to Louis Vuitton’s Cruise 2026 show.
Avignon’s Palais des Papes, seat of the papacy until 1377 and centre-stage for the town’s annual theatre festival since 1947, became Nicolas Ghesquière’s latest show venue. Es Devlin installed empty tiers of red-velvet seats where actors normally perform, while the audience, which included Cate Blanchett, Emma Stone, Saoirse Ronan, Catherine Deneuve, Alicia Vikander and Stacy Martin, occupied the courtyard floor.
Louis Vuitton is the first fashion house to mount a runway at the UNESCO World-Heritage landmark, which this year also marks the 30th anniversary of that recognition, the 25th anniversary of Avignon’s tenure as European Capital of Culture and the 50th anniversary of the Petit Palais–Louvre Museum.
Julia Nobis opened the show in a visually scrambled knight’s uniform—busy medieval tunic, metal plates, jaunty cape—setting off Ghesquière’s stated aim: “It looks at history, but it’s not historical.” Short, flaring skater skirts and knitted hot pants kept the mood contemporary, while soft metallic-jersey dresses nodded to Joan of Arc. Ruffles and chiffon appeared alongside leather, geometric embroidery and intarsia knits.
Accessories did much of the storytelling. Raffia caps, wood-framed handbags made with Alsatian artisan Thomas Roger and Alma bags finished with gilt 3-D book-cover hardware shared space with sock-style booties covered in broken-mirror shards and tall cavalier boots studded with silvery grommets. The early-2000s skinny scarf resurfaced in gauzy silk, catching the lightest breeze in the open-air courtyard.
Show notes promised to “explore the performative aspects of clothing, its inherent artistic value, its narrative force, and the emotional power it unleashes.” The soundtrack—choir voices, French horns, galloping horses, birdsong—underlined that intent. Details rewarded close viewing: Renaissance jacquards trimmed with shearling cuffs, a Victorian-style shirt made entirely of chained fringe, a fuchsia mini skirt pleated and moulded so rigidly it flared like a frozen bloom, plus a white cargo jacket paired with a metallic snakeskin mini skirt.
By folding medieval references into present-tense silhouettes, Cruise 2026 showed why Ghesquière’s time-jumping instincts still feel fresh inside even the oldest walls.
