WWD’s Exclusive First Look at the Louis Vuitton Holiday Tree

Louis Vuitton is decking the halls of South Coast Plaza ahead of the holiday season.

The French luxury brand has unveiled a special tree for the Costa Mesa, California, shopping center’s Jewel Court.

The 40-foot tree is stacked with LV branded boxed gifts in the shapes of toys, including surfboards, airplanes, dinosaurs and bikes, in keeping with the “cadeaux” theme. It’s the first time Louis Vuitton has created a holiday tree for a luxury shopping destination.

Also in the spirit of seasonal decorating, Louis Vuitton has collaborated with Lego on festive scenes for its holiday windows and store displays around the world through Jan. 1.

The first LV boutique in South Coast Plaza opened in 1986, and the brand has been steadily increasing its square footage ever since. In 2000, it opened the current space, tripling the original size to 7,000 square feet total. The shop was designed by Peter Marino, who also designed the Louis Vuitton locations in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood and Paris’s Place Vendôme.

In late August, the brand opened a second store at the shopping center, a dedicated men’s store. For the holidays, the Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned Tiffany & Co. will also debut an Andy Warhol-inspired ornament installation.

In other South Coast Plaza news, the original wing that debuted in 1967 is undergoing a transformation with the opening of the new Gentle Monster store, announced boutiques for Missoni, Alexander Wang, Byredo and an expanded Rimowa store. Plans for the redevelopment of the old Sears building and adjacent property are also coming soon. At the other end of the shopping center, Reformation and Anine Bing are opening, alongside new locations for Coach, Weekend MaxMara, Hugo Boss and John Varvatos. In the luxury wing, Hermes opened an expanded, redesigned store in March.

The Segerstrom family-owned South Coast Plaza has been celebrating its 55th anniversary. In October, it continued its history of nurturing the arts with a gala opening of the Orange County Museum of Art’s new Thom Mayne-designed building. It was the cornerstone of the vision of a Segerstrom Center for the Arts, encompassing performance and visual arts, which was spearheaded by the late retail pioneer and philanthropist Henry Segerstrom.

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