Grace Coddington’s Travel Wardrobe Consists of Cats, Cashmere, and a Foldable Keepall

At the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Louis Vuitton launched their collection with Grace Coddington, inspired by the spirit of travel and the legendary editor’s love of cats.

The first time Nicolas Ghesquière met Grace Coddington was on the set of Vogue for a Steven Meisel-lensed class portrait of the designers that defined the time: Hussein Chalayan, Junya Watanabe, and more, with him sitting cross-legged at the center. 

He still remembers being mildly starstruck the moment she approached him to say hi (“I have to say it was a big shock for me,” Ghesquière said, as quoted in Vogue. “I thought, Wow, I think I’m going to make it, maybe”), unknowing that it would lead to more creative encounters immortalized in editorial, and later, collaborations when he would be at the helm of Louis Vuitton. 

The first was an overtly Coddington-inflected Resort 2019 show, featuring models with fiery red hair walking against a track of excerpts from Grace: A Memoir narrated by actor Jennifer Connelly, followed by Catogram: a collection of Speedies, Neverfulls, and customized handbags emblazoned with hand-drawn cats and dogs. The muses: Coddington’s Pumpkin and Blanket, and Ghesquière’s pups Achille and Léon. 

This time around, for her Louis Vuitton Travels With Grace Coddington capsule collection, the fashion editor leaned more into the Maison’s spirit of travel, taking playful suggestions from Ghesquière (“Why don’t you do some dresses?”). 

“Last time [with Catogram], there were cats wherever you looked! My main thing is cats, but people can have too much of them… I mean, I can’t,” Coddington told Vogue with a laugh, “but for a big company like Louis Vuitton, they might not want more and more cats, so we had to think about how we could take this in a different direction.” 

She decided on a motif inspired by the worldly souvenir stickers people would slap on suitcases “back in the day,” emblazoned over pajama sets and robes, easy chore jackets and T-shirts, while her playful illustrations of globe-trotting cats and scurrying mice rush over striped midi dresses, breezy button-downs, handbags, and small leather goods. The ready-to-wear pieces, crafted from cashmere, knitwear, silk, and cotton, plus a foldable Keepall 45 to pack them into, all have the makings of what Coddington would consider her ideal transitional wardrobe. 

For the capsule’s introduction in Manila, Louis Vuitton held a launch party attended by Bella Racelis, Cole Micek, Janine Gutierrez, Gabbi Garcia, and LA Aguinaldo at the M Museum. Away from the dance set and in a connecting room meant for hosting quieter conversations between guests, the walls were lined with framed, blown-up postage stamps of kittens, their labels reading Manila, Milan, Bangkok, Tokyo, and more. Photographed by Renzo Navarro and in partnership with a local volunteer-led organization, Cats of BGC, the stamps featured real-life cats available for adoption. 

Between the frames and Coddington’s illustrations, there were cats at every corner, making it an affair she might have enjoyed herself. People can have enough of cats, but never Grace. 

The Louis Vuitton Travels With Grace Coddington collection is available on eu.louisvuitton.com.