LVMH Opens 71 Maison Sites in 13 Countries for Its 2026 Journées Particulières

For three days, the world's largest luxury group is letting the public behind doors that usually stay closed. LVMH's Journées Particulières, now in its sixth edition, opened on October 16 with 45 maisons welcoming visitors to 71 locations across 13 countries, according to the group's own report on the first day.

It is a rare chance to see luxury from the workbench rather than the shop window. Here is where the doors opened, and why the format matters for anyone who cares about how fine things are made.

Why this edition began in Shanghai

The first doors opened in China, not Paris. In Shanghai's historic Zhangyuan district, LVMH brought several of its houses together for the first time inside Maison LVMH, while a short walk away Louis Vuitton showed trunk painting and bag making at the Louis Vuitton Mansion.

The China programme also reached Chandon's winery in Ningxia and Officine Universelle Buly in Hong Kong. LVMH called the opening a sign of its long ties with the country. The timing is telling, since the group's third quarter figures, published earlier this month, pointed to softer demand from Chinese shoppers. A public welcome built around craft reads as both hospitality and a long game.

Paris: ateliers, prototypes and a newsroom

In Paris, Dior opened 30 Avenue Montaigne, its historic address, from 9 a.m., taking visitors into the ateliers to meet artisans whose techniques are passed down by hand. Louis Vuitton showed where designers' drawings first meet material, in the prototype workshops that usually count among a house's most guarded rooms.

Chaumet welcomed guests into its hôtel particulier on Place Vendôme, where the jeweller's story stretches back more than two centuries to Empress Joséphine, its first great inspiration. Maison Francis Kurkdjian held masterclasses on the composition of fragrance at its new Paris offices.

One stop had nothing to do with fashion at all. The Les Echos and Le Parisien media group, also part of LVMH, opened its Left Bank headquarters with workshops and meetings with reporters on how the daily news is produced.

Italy and Switzerland: knitwear, couture and watches

Loro Piana in Ghemme

In Piedmont, Loro Piana opened its Knitwear Center of Excellence in Ghemme, inaugurated last September. The 8,000 square metre building handles everything from yarn research to hand finishing in cashmere, baby cashmere, vicuña and merino, and LVMH says it runs on zero fossil energy with natural light and solar panels.

Fendi in Rome

Fendi received visitors at its headquarters in the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, the building Romans call the Square Colosseum. The house looked back on ten years of creation, from Karl Lagerfeld to Maria Grazia Chiuri, with artisans demonstrating embroidery and cutting in front of guests.

Louis Vuitton in Switzerland

At La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, the high watchmaking workshop stayed in full motion while visitors watched artisans at their benches assemble movements piece by piece.

Vineyards, suitcases and a New York finale

Two Provence estates took the event outdoors. Château Galoupet, facing the Mediterranean, is one of a small number of vineyards worldwide certified Regenerative Organic, and visitors walked its vines and trails with the estate team. Château d'Esclans, known for its rosé, showed vines that are more than a century old.

In Tokyo, RIMOWA chose a different story at Ginza Sony Park, tracing a suitcase from its making through to the reuse of its materials at the end of its life.

The first day closed at The Landmark, home of Tiffany & Co. since 1940. There, nearly forty works by Damien Hirst, Rashid Johnson, Anna Weyant and Daniel Arsham were shown alongside pieces from the house, including Bird on a Rock, the 1965 design that remains among Tiffany's best known creations.

What the open doors say about luxury now

Most luxury marketing sells an idea of craft. This event shows the craft itself, with the people who do the work standing beside it. For a sector facing slower sales and sharper questions about price, letting the public see how long a hand finished knit or a watch movement takes is a quiet argument for value.

It also shows how wide the group's reach has become. In a single day the programme moved from trunks to rosé, from couture embroidery to a newsroom, a reminder that the portfolio is as much about heritage and know how as it is about names on a label.

The Journées Particulières run through October 18, and LVMH is publishing an account of each day on its website. For anyone who loves the making of beautiful things, it is one of the rare weekends when the workshop matters more than the window.