Issue #171: Louvre Couture Enchants Spring Festival Tourists in Paris
Cultural heritage tourism sparkles in the City of Light for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Happy New Year of the Wood Snake, and welcome to Issue 171 of Asia Travel Re:Set.
Two years ago, I came to Paris* to track the early recovery of Chinese tourism in this magisterial city.
It was barely 3 weeks after China reopened. The windy and cold weather mirrored Chinese New Year, which was a dampened affair in the French capital.
This week I returned to discover a much more vibrant City of Light.
So let’s follow that train of thought…
Thanks for checking in…
* Issue #102: Paris Plays the Long Game After a Subdued Chinese New Year
“Brand positioning is one of Singapore Airlines most resilient strengths.” And maybe one of its most under-appreciated. On Thursday, I joined Syahida Othman on CNA’s Singapore Tonight to discuss why Singapore Airlines was ranked top airline on the 2025 World’s Most Admired Companies list, compiled by Fortune and Korn Ferry. The full list, headed by Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia and Berkshire Hathaway, is HERE.
Louvre Couture Enchants Spring Festival Tourists in Paris
No-one comes to Paris in January for the weather. The past week was mostly cloudy and rainy. But today is a crisp, sunny winter’s day, and France’s capital looks ravishing.
Unlike 2 years ago, an influx of Asian tourists is out and about enjoying the architecture, food, shopping, culture and, well, everything about this fabulous city.
Much is made about the Chinese New Year travel period - but listen carefully on the Parisian streets and alongside Mandarin and Cantonese, you will hear plenty of Malay, Indonesian, Tagalog, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese and Thai.
Paris, of course, is all about style. This, after all, is the city where a giant Bottega Veneta billboard covers the majestic National Opera during its renovation. Paris Fashion Week has just wrapped up, and IMCAS, the world’s premier medical aesthetics show, is beautifying the Palais de Congrès.
One of the most refreshing aspects about Chinese New Year/Lunar New Year/Tet in Paris is that the city doesn’t celebrate any of them. Unlike other European cities, it is so comfortable in its own skin that it sees no need to align itself with externalities. This enables Asian visitors to tuck into its cultural menu without distractions.
The grands magasins of Galeries Lafayette and Printemps make a glamour-filled first stop - not least because it is soldes (sales) season. Draped in advertising for Ariana Grande’s hook-up with Swarovski, Galeries Lafayette is one of the few venues I spotted with “Happy Spring Festival” decorations. The cosmetics, fragrances and handbag counters were especially busy. Who says shopping tourism is outdated?
Any visit merits ascending to the 3rd-floor Le Glasswalk, a 16-metre glass-floored runway suspended in the air offering status-enhancing selfies/wefies backdropped by the theatrical Art Nouveau cupola. The queue (mostly young couples) was super long.
Talking of which, trending somewhere on social media at any given moment is Cedric Grolet, where artistically crafted fleur desserts create long daily lines and social videos.
But, the very best place to observe Spring Festival tourism at its most eclectic and culturally engaged is La Louvre. Queueing to enter Chinese-American architect IM Pei’s glass pyramid in the magnificent gravel courtyard framed by some the city’s most handsome buildings is a pure pleasure. Singles, couples and families from all continents wait excitedly to view this year’s hottest exhibition: Louvre Couture.
Subtitled Objets d’art, Objets de mode, this cerebrally curated show weaves together the history of European high fashion with some of its primary influences, notably art, architecture and religion.
Navigating the show is purposefully challenging, Sixty-five couture exhibits by celebrity designers and fashion houses - such as Dior, Louboutin, Chanel, Fendi, Lagerfeld, Givenchy, Versace and Balenciaga - are stationed among, between and sometimes behind giant tapestries, paintings, hand-crafted porcelain, decorative gold ornaments and statues dating from Byzantium to the 1960s.
The exhibition neatly weaves together the historic inspiration for each work by a celebrated contemporary designer, ranging from gothic churches to the costumes of medieval nobility and the ceramic tiles of Renaissance palaces.
Some exhibits are easily missed, and many visitors can be seen doubling back between galleries to spot (and snap) the designer garments they missed.
After almost three hours, it’s hard to recall an exhibition where every visitor was so visually engaged with not just the garments and art on display, but the often complex and illuminating narratives that bind them.
This is high-yield tourism at its most imaginative - and showcases yet again why Paris is such a cherished destination for culture-hungry tourists from Asia and worldwide.
Right, next to Bordeaux!
And, that’s a wrap for this week.
Asia Travel Re:Set will return next Sunday.
Happy Travels,
Gary