Dior Cruise Show Shuts LACMA's New David Geffen Galleries Days After Opening

Days after the official opening of the David Geffen Galleries at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the highly debated building designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor was closed for a Dior fashion show. The event, part of Dior's Cruise collection, featured creative director Jonathan Anderson's Hollywood-themed presentation. Models walked from the upper floor down staircases and through the outdoor area under the cantilevered structure, past historic street lamps and vintage Cadillacs. Anderson referenced Christian Dior's history of dressing Hollywood stars like Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, and Marlene Dietrich; a Dior blazer worn by Dietrich in Hitchcock's 1950 film "Stage Fright" was recreated in a fringed version. The show included calligraphy headpieces by Parisian couture milliner Philip Treacy and shirts with numbers created in collaboration with American artist Ed Ruscha. The closure reignites debate about the building's design, which has been criticized for lost exhibition space and erratic curation, while others praise its sublime beauty. LACMA is not the first museum to host a luxury fashion show; the Louvre has hosted Louis Vuitton shows, and Saint Laurent held a show at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin in 2023.