Like windows open onto a poetic otherworld, the Louis Vuitton window displays are summoning the splendour of the circus to celebrate the holiday season. Tightrope walkers and trapeze artists, tamers and clowns: the parade of all of these heroes of our childhood leads us into a fabulous world where elephants dance on stools and big cats tenderly purr.

Louis Vuitton is very familiar with this magical universe. The inventiveness of the Maison’s founders and the skill of its craftsmen were so well known in the circus world that it would appear that Houdini, the famous conjurer who defied every security mechanism in the late 19th century, even decided against confronting the – said to be impregnable – locks on Louis Vuitton trunks. Documents of the time show that the mime artist Kita always had his customised trunk to hand, even on stage.

And because legend and magic go hand in hand, destiny doubtless conspired so that the Rancy family, who owned an eponymous circus, took up residence on the land next to the Asnières home. A Louis Vuitton trunk was specially designed to offer transportation of choice to a dwarf pony, creating the surprise of the show.

Upholding this tradition that pairs the wonders of the show with the delights of travel, in mid-November the holiday curtains will rise in the windows of Louis Vuitton stores the world over to reveal a world of shimmering fantasy in which every object tells of dreams and the joy of giving.

Making of

Images via Stephane Muratet / Louis Vuitton, Drawings © Frank Laws