Berluti brings its 'Little Prince' collaboration to Ginza for three days, with CEO Jean-Marc Mansvelt in Tokyo for the opening
Berluti ran a three-day Ginza exhibition pairing its leather craft with The Little Prince and what the LVMH house called a world-first collection, flying in CEO Jean-Marc Mansvelt for the opening -- a reminder of how much weight a maison still puts on a short Tokyo appearance.
Berluti held a three-day exhibition at Ginza Tsutaya Books from October 24 to 26, titled "Resonance: Berluti and The Little Prince in Dialogue," pairing the house's leather craftsmanship with imagery and sketches from Antoine de Saint-Exupery's story. Admission was free, and the Paris house -- owned by LVMH -- said the show unveiled a collection it was presenting ahead of any other market, according to Berluti Japan.
CEO Jean-Marc Mansvelt travelled to Tokyo for a reception the evening before the public opening, greeting guests at both the exhibition venue and Berluti's Ginza store, the company said. He told attendees he was glad to be unveiling the Little Prince collaboration ahead of the rest of the world, according to the release. Actress Miu Sakamoto, who said performing in a 2020 stage production of The Little Prince had stayed with her, was among the guests Berluti named, alongside actors Seiya Ryu and Takeshi Ihara.
A three-day pop-up with the CEO flown in, rather than a store opening or a seasonal campaign, is a low-cost way for a specialty leather house to buy outsized local attention: a free exhibition, a world-first label and a celebrity guest list turn one short event into the kind of press and social coverage a seasonal product rollout would take much longer to earn. The test is what, if anything, from the collection reaches Berluti's Ginza shop floor once the exhibition closes.