Louis Vuitton’s Old N.Y.C. Flagship Now Looks Like a Massive Version of Its Iconic Trunks

Louis Vuitton knows that getting a facelift requires discretion, so the brand devised the most luxurious camouflage for its former flagship while it undergoes a refresh.

The French maison’s enormous shop on 57th Street in New York City is being carefully dismantled ahead of its multi-year rebuilding and expansion. To make the construction work less unsightly, Vuitton’s creative team has assembled scaffolding akin to an art installation, with a skin that resembles its famous steamer trunks. The hyper-realistic facade (made with the help of 3-D scans) extends a full 16 stories and 240 feet into the sky with a look designed to perfectly replicate gray canvas models first used by the house in the 19th century. Each trunk comes complete with real hardware, including locks and handles, the largest of which weighs in at 5,000 pounds.  

Vuitton has occupied its tony corner lot—just steps away from the megastructures that line Billionaire’s Row—since 2004. The new flagship is expected to double the square footage of the original, from 91,060 square feet to 230,000. The brand will use the additional space to better serve its most important clients and host exclusive events on their behalf, Pietro Beccari, Louis Vuitton’s CEO, told WWD. 

But this massive undertaking won’t disrupt shopping ahead of the holidays. Vuitton has set up a fantastical temporary flagship just around the corner at 6 East 57th Street. Though its sizable retail floors alone would make it worthy of a visit, the space also includes amenities the original flagship did not have. These include a cafe (steamed scallop soufflé with caviar or braised black bass with vongole bouillon, anyone?), a chocolate shop, a new culinary concept and an exclusive capsule collection of keepsakes that can’t be found anywhere else. 

Louis Vuitton first opened an independent New York store in 1980, gradually increasing its footprint as the label grew from a small family business to the most profitable tentpole of the world’s largest luxury group. Just last year, the company draped its Parisian flagship in a trunk-like facade that foreshadowed its current New York display.