Chanel’s cruise 2024-25 show is coming to Hong Kong: after unveiling the collection in Marseille this month, the luxury fashion powerhouse will restage it in a display of confidence for the Asian city

May 13 , 2024

The Chanel cruise 2024-25 show in Marseille, France, on May 2. The label will re-stage the show in Hong Kong on November 5. Photo: Handout

Fashion luxury maison Chanel first unveiled its 2024-25 cruise collection at the heritage-listed Cité Radieuse in Marseille, giving fashionistas their first glimpse at the brand’s resortwear line

The French brand just announced that it will present the collection again in an exclusive staging in Hong Kong – we spoke to president of fashion, Bruno Pavlovsky, about the news, in Marseille

French luxury house Chanel will restage its cruise 2024-25 show, which took place in Marseille earlier this month, in Hong Kong on November 5.

As Chanel’s president of fashion, Bruno Pavlovsky, said in an interview in Marseille, the label has never wavered from its commitment to the Asian city, which in recent years has lost its lustre as the region’s – if not the world’s – most important luxury hub.

Thanks to the large numbers of travellers from mainland China and other parts of Asia that arrive in Hong Kong to embark on shopping sprees that take advantage of the retail scene and lower luxury goods prices, the city has historically been one of the brand’s most important luxury markets.

Soft hues and varied textures abounded at Chanel’s cruise 2024-25 show in Marseille, France, on May 2. Photo: Handout

But in recent years, anti-government protests that began in 2019 and ended the following year, and protracted border closures that kept visitors away during the coronavirus pandemic, have affected Hong Kong’s standing as a tourist magnet.

Even at the height of the pandemic, though, Chanel never failed to cultivate its loyal customer base in the city with a series of events catering to local media and clients, not to mention a major expansion of its boutique at the Peninsula hotel, which Pavlovsky called at the time in a video interview with the Post, “one of the most beautiful in the world”.

“We will continue to invest in Hong Kong,” said Pavlovsky in Marseille. “We’re very pleased to be in Hong Kong. We’ve wanted to do this for quite a long time, but Covid kept us from doing something big, so this will be super. We’re very happy to go back to Hong Kong.”

Chanel’s president of fashion, Bruno Pavlovsky, at a talk in Dakar, Senegal, in December 2022, the day after the brand’s Métiers d’Art show. Photo: Handout

Over the last two decades, Chanel has held off-schedule destination shows in locations such as Edinburgh, Scotland; Dallas, Texas; Havana, Cuba; Dakar, Senegal; and, more recently, Manchester, England. The maison also holds four annual ready-to-wear and haute couture shows in Paris.

These “pre-collection” shows, as they’re also known, are extremely important – not only because of their high visibility, but also because of their role in strengthening the relationship with long-term VIP clients, and in acquiring new ones.

The cruise collection normally drops in stores in November – or later in the winter, in some cases – and is available until the early summer, much longer than the twice-yearly autumn/winter and spring/summer lines. Also known as a resort collection, the line takes its name from the idea that, back in the day, designers would offer an assortment of looks to wear on holiday – often a cruise – just in time for the end of year’s travel season.