Louis Vuitton Knowing that a facelift requires common sense, the brand designed the most luxurious camouflage for its renewed former flagship.

The French maison’s massive store on 57th Street in New York City is being carefully dismantled ahead of its multi-year reconstruction and expansion. To make the construction work less ugly, Vuitton’s creative team erected scaffolding that resembles an art installation, with a covering that resembles the famous steamer trunks. The hyper-realistic façade (made with the help of 3D scans) extends a full 16 stories and 240 feet into the sky, with a look designed to perfectly replicate the gray canvasses the house first used in the 19th century. Each trunk comes with actual hardware, including locks and handles, the largest of which weighs 5,000 pounds.

Since 2004, Vuitton has occupied the small corner lot just steps away from the megastructures that line Billionaires Street. double the square meters from 91,060 square meters of the original to 230,000 square meters. Louis Vuitton CEO Pietro Beccari said the brand will use the additional space to better serve its most important customers and host special events on their behalf. said WWD.

However, this huge initiative will not disrupt shopping before the holiday. Vuitton has set up a fantastic temporary flagship just off 6 East 57th Street. Although the sizeable retail floors alone make it worth a visit, this space also includes amenities that the original flagship didn’t have. These include a cafe (steamed scallop soufflé with caviar or fried sea bass with vongole bouillon anyone?), a chocolate shop, a new culinary concept, and an exclusive souvenir capsule collection that can’t be found anywhere else.

Louis Vuitton first opened a standalone store in New York in 1980, gradually increasing its footprint as the brand grew from a small family business to the most profitable tentpole of the world’s largest luxury group. Just last year, the company covered its Paris flagship with a chest-like facade that foreshadowed its current New York exhibition.