Need for seed
Jil Sander had a horticultural take on show invitation design. Bestowing a white cotton pouch on guests, stamped with the green-fingered phrase ‘The world needs more flowers,’ show-goers found a flurry of chocolate truffle-like seed bombs inside, for them to take home, plant, water and nurture into flowers.
Lap of luxury
Labels amped up the luxury with lashings of leopard print and gold. Just look to Dolce & Gabbana’s wildcat-worthy show invitation, and Saint Laurent’s patent leather envelope, a glossy rock n’ roll fit for its LA location. Elsewhere, 1017 ALYX 9SM got the Midas touch for spring, with a multi-layered show invitation, complete with a glossy golden foil.
Seeing clearly
Brands bought a translucent twist to their show invitation envelopes. OAMC and Lanvin opted for gauzy tracing paper-thin envelopes, OAMC opting to conceal a handy carabiner inside, and Lanvin slipping inside a summery illustration in bold blue, rose and yellow brushstrokes of men clad shorts and hats. Elsewhere, Off-White opted for its usual clear acetate envelope, printed with a barbed wire pattern.
Road trippin’
A host of labels provided a handy stock of essentials for a summer road trip, preferably in a sunset-chasing soft top. See Wooyungmi’s invitation-come-retro mixtape, Paul’s Smith’s car bumper-ready cartoon bunny sticker, a fuchsia foil Vetements condom and a Versace-branded metal license plate, bordered with pop-colour baroque prints.
Great heights
Louis Vuitton’s Virgil Abloh looked to the sky for S/S 2020, designing a show invitation that came complete with a ready-to-assemble kite. Its parts included a spine, cross bar and bridle cord and a verdant, bottle green triangular nylon sail emblazoned with the LV monograph. Up up and away!
Book worm
Since his appointment at Celine, Hedi Slimane has celebrated the power of print with an invitation presented as a hotly-coveted hardback book. Art is essential to Slimane’s aesthetic, and since arriving at the Parisian house he’s collaborated with Christian Marclay and Oscar Tuazon on collection prints and site-specific retail pieces. For S/S 2020, a chalk grey canvas-covered volume concealed a series of colourful tear out posters, featuring artwork by David Kramer.
Block party
Berluti also opted for a pouch-clad invitation. Inside its sleek fabric bag, guests were greeted with a parcel printed with a glossy paint-dripped flower, concealing a white wooden block carved with the Berluti logo.
Material world
For creative directors’ Humberto Leon and Carol Lim final runway show for Kenzo after an ebullient eight-year tenure, the duo designed a soft scarf-resembling invitation in a vanilla-hued fabric, printed with ‘Kenzo’ in bold brushstroke lettering. A material memento for guests to take home and treasure.
-
Must-visit cinemas with award-worthy designCreativity leaps the screen at these design-led cinemas, from Busan Cinema Centre’s record-flying roof to The Gem Cinema Jaipur’s art deco allure
-
The modernist home of musician Imogen Holst gets Grade II listingThe daughter of the composer Gustav Holst lived here from 1964 until her death, during which time the home served a locus for her own composition work, which included assisting Benjamin Britten
-
This fun and free-spirited photography exhibition offers a chromatic view on the world‘Chromotherapia’ at Villa Medici in Rome, explores how we view colour as a way of therapy, and how it has shaped photography over the last century (until 9 June 2025)
