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For its cruise 2020 show, Louis Vuitton arrived at New York’s iconic TWA Flight Center

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The revamped TWA Flight Centre was revealed for the first time at the Louis Vuitton show.Gregoire VIEILLE/Handout

Over the past decade, it’s become commonplace for designer cruise collections to be presented in some pretty exotic locales. This season alone, those spots have included the Musei Capitolini in Rome and the El Badi Palace in Marrakesh. But rarely are these lines, which arrive in stores in November just in time for winter getaway season, presented in the space where most of us begin our seasonal escape: the airport.

Get inspired for the holidays with the Style Advisor: November 2019 edition

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Embroidered leather cape, US$13,340, high-waisted trousers, US$2,540, Metropolis ankle boot, US$1,810, earrings, handbag, both price on request at Louis Vuitton.RILEY STEWART/The Globe and Mail

For its cruise 2020 line, Louis Vuitton changed that, though the space the brand chose for its show wasn’t your average terminal. Last May, just as it was about to reopen as New York’s latest destination hotel, the Trans World Airlines building at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens opened its arrivals and departures hall to the international caravan of editors, influencers, celebrities and customers who spend a lot of time up in the air chasing the latest fashion.

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Embroidered zip-up top, similar styles, US$6,000, stirrup-style trousers, US$1,870, Metropolis flat Ranger boot, US$1,610, Midnight gloves, US$875, Midnight belt, US$730 at Louis Vuitton.RILEY STEWART/The Globe and Mail

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Embroidered top, US$2,940, trousers, US$1,870, knapsack, gloves, both price on request at Louis Vuitton.RILEY STEWART/The Globe and Mail

“I was lucky enough to have landed at the TWA Flight Center in the late nineties. It was something I could never forget,” said Nicolas Ghesquière, LV’s creative director. “This place was forgotten for 20 years, and now has come back to life.” In the past, Ghesquière has presented cruise collections at Rio de Janeiro’s Museu de Arte Contemporaneo de Niteroi and the Miho Museum outside of Kyoto. Landing at the Eero Saarinen-designed TWA space maintains a tradition of highlighting the influence of mid-century architecture in the clothing and accessories he creates.

This being New York, those design references looked even further back than the Jet Age. The spires and facades of Manhattan’s Art-Deco skyscrapers were captured in the shapes of handbags and the intricacy of the clothing’s gilt brocades and embroidered capes. Overall, the collection channelled the retrofuturism of films such as Metropolis and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, where a century’s worth of ideas about what the world – and our wardrobes – might look like overlap to glamorous effect.

ON THE FLY

The Louis Vuitton collection’s accessories capture elements of 1930s New York and jet-age futurism.

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HANDOUT/Handout

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HANDOUT/Handout

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HANDOUT/Handout

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HANDOUT/Handout

For more information including product pricing, visit louisvuitton.com.

Styling by Nadia Pizzimenti. Makeup and hair by Sheri Stroh for Dior Beauty/Kevin Murphy/Plutino Group. Model: Willow Allen at Sutherland Models. Set design by James Reiger for P1M.ca.

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