Traditionally, come May, luxury brands head to escapist destinations for their resort shows, from Havana, Cuba (Chanel, resort 2017) to Japan’s Shigaraki mountains (Louis Vuitton, resort 2018), or take advantage of their proximity to the French and Italian Rivieras. But in 2026, luxury is heading to the US.
Chanel is getting in early with Matthieu Blazy’s first Métiers d’Art show in New York on December 2. Come 2026, many more brands are heading stateside. Both Louis Vuitton and Gucci are following suit for their resort 2027 shows in May. That same month, Dior will reveal Jonathan Anderson’s first resort collection in Los Angeles. And before the wave of resort shows hits the US, Moncler, which previously showed its Grenoble line in Alpine hotspots Saint-Moritz and Courchevel, is kicking off the year in Aspen on January 31.
Many of these brands have dabbled with US shows in the past. Chanel held its resort 2024 show in Los Angeles, following Karl Lagerfeld’s resort 2008 show at Hangar 8 in Santa Monica back in ’07. Louis Vuitton hosted its resort 2020 runway at the TWA Flight Center in New York’s JFK Airport, as well as resort 2016 in LA. Dior has also held multiple shows in the Southern California city; Maria Grazia Chiuri showed her first resort collection in Calabasas in 2017, while Kim Jones showed his collaborative collection with Eli Russell Linnetz beachside in Venice in 2023. But never have so many brands descended on the States at once.
2025 was a fraught year for the US. Tariffs weighed on consumer sentiment and brand strategies, while inflation took a hit on even wealthy customer spend. But, in the latest spate of earnings, the country emerged as a bright spot for brands struggling to recoup the sales they lost amid the year’s luxury slowdown. Brands including Zegna and Moncler said that American consumers seemed unfazed by recent price increases.
To get closer to these consumers, brands are decamping their European bases for US soil. “This is a concerted industry effort to show love and bring education to American consumers,” says Bernstein luxury goods analyst Luca Solca. “For many years, America has been second priority behind China. It seems clear that — for many reasons — this has changed.” There’s room for luxury to better cultivate the US market, he adds, and staging resort shows in the country is a clever way to do so.
“The best opportunities for growth are here in the US,” agrees Gary Wassner, CEO and principal of Hilldun Corporation, a New York-based fashion financier. “It’s logical that these brands would be catering to the US market in whatever way they can.”
It’s a strategic move, but also a practical one, experts agree. “The clustering of resort shows in the US marks a shift from symbolic spectacle to strategic proximity,” says Rose Coffey, senior foresight analyst at strategic foresight consultancy The Future Laboratory. “Resort has historically been about escapism and novelty, but in a softer luxury climate, brands are seeking stability amid geopolitical and economic uncertainty.”
Deepening roots in lucrative markets
It’s a sign of the times. Resort shows were once about wardrobing the jet-setting rich and famous for their sun-drenched escapes. Now, resort runways — and destination shows more broadly — are more about reaching a wider net of high-potential, local consumers. This is a strategy brands are increasingly exploring. Zegna’s first-ever show outside Milan took the brand to Dubai in June. CEO Gildo Zegna told Vogue Business that he chose Dubai because it is “one of the most energetic and fastest-growing luxury hubs in the world”. “We believe if you’re strong in Dubai, you’ll be strong across the Gulf. That’s the bet we’re making,” he said. Similarly, Chanel’s choice of Hangzhou for last year’s Métiers d’Art show was, in part, down to the city’s significant consumption power.
Proximity to clients — in 2026, US clients — is crucial, say experts. Rather than flying V-VIPs out to all corners of the world, brands are making a concerted effort to connect with high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) where they are. “These shows are becoming more about deepening roots in lucrative home markets — taking collections directly to where their most dependable HNW clients actually are,” Coffey says. “US-based shows give brands the chance to foreground workmanship and exclusivity to the clients who matter most.”
This is extra important for brands with new talent at the helm, Wassner says. “Designers come and go, and they bring their own aesthetics with them; the brands have lost singular definition,” he adds. “They need to regain that for the American market as well, so consumers can tell one brand from the next.” In bringing shows to consumers’ home turf, brands can introduce their new eras to the clients with the dollars to participate in them.
This newfound focus on practicality doesn’t mean destination shows are completely shifting away from the glitz and glam that made them so intriguing in the first place. Quite the contrary; brands’ choice to double down on the US means they’re better set up to reach the masses — even beyond the States. “The US remains the strongest engine for global media amplification,” Coffey says. “Cruise collections have evolved into vehicles for cultural reach, and staging shows in LA and New York maximises media value — delivering instant visibility through celebrity networks and influencers with trusted content ecosystems.”
That said, brands ought to be wary of going in too hard on the US for the sake of simply doing something in America. “Too much ‘lights, camera, action’ can eventually start to feel dull,” says fashion consultant Julie Gilhart. “What really counts is connecting with the audience and making it a thoughtful, meaningful experience.” Dior’s choice of Los Angeles illustrates this well. Anderson is known for his work with film — often by way of his collaboration on Luca Guadagnino’s films, including Challengers and Queer. Where better to build on this overlap than Hollywood’s home city?
Gilhart hopes that brands will take this connectivity a step further with a more boots-on-the-ground approach to American destination shows. “With so much economic disparity right now, it would be powerful for brands to build in some kind of giveback to the city they choose,” she says.
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