From Louis Vuitton to Rag & Bone, fashion brands are finding more analogue ways to stand out from the digital crowd

For Michael Burke, the charismatic chairman and chief executive of Louis Vuitton, the super-digitalised world lacks two vital ingredients: smell and touch. Speaking at the Seoul preview of Louis Vuitton’s “Volez, Voguez, Voyagez” exhibition, which highlights the house’s heritage in travel and trunk-making, Burke explains how these senses play an important role in connecting with consumers who may have become jaded by a constant digital assault.

“There’s a reason why in the first rooms [of the exhibition] you smell wood and leather – that’s very much on purpose, senses that you can’t get online,” he says. “In times like this, it’s even more important to put on exhibitions that are tactile, immersive, physical and, yes, human.”

Storytelling through exhibitions, or indeed through short films, workshops or artist collaborations, is a richer way for fashion brands to engage their audience – but is also slower and more expensive to produce. Stories have become more appealing and effective, however, as a certain numbness grows towards the fast and furious digital side of fashion. With countless images being hurled at our retinas per screen refresh and across social media, even the most striking of fashion campaigns have a tough time standing out.

That’s one reason why Louis Vuitton is investing a great deal in bricks and mortar exhibitions alongside digital development – especially in the five years since Burke has been at the helm. “Volez, Voguez, Voyagez” just opened last week in Seoul, but after its debut at the Grand Palais in Paris it has already travelled to Tokyo, and will go next to New York. Meanwhile, an LV “Time Capsule” exhibit in Hong Kong in April and May showed off archive products and curios, from classic handbags to special commissions including an LV whisky set.