WORDS Michaela Stehr PHOTOS Adrien Dirand, courtesy of Louis Vuitton
In Paris, fashion house Louis Vuitton‘s new walk-through exhibition, “LV DREAM”, comprises nine rooms that celebrate 160 years of engaging design. Here are our picks from this luxurious treat of a display.
Art on Silk
Everyone loves a silk Louis Vuitton scarf – hotshot artists included. This room highlights the evolution of the classic fashion accessory as a medium for creatives to express themselves, stylishly. Check out sexy squares dating back to the 1980s by artists such as Sol LeWitt, James Rosenquist, Gae Aulenti and Andrée Putman, as well as contemporary iterations by the likes of Urs Fischer, Tracey Emin and André Saraiva.
The World of Vuitton According to Rei
This visually immersive installation is dedicated to Rei Kawakubo, the artistic director of Comme des Garçons, and inventor of two stand-out Vuitton bag capsules – Party Bags and Bags With Holes. The much- loved creations are set against a striking Monogram backdrop dotted with holes, creating the illusion that the viewer is inside an actual bag.
Leather Goods in Fashion
Enter a world of pop playfulness courtesy of art luminaries Takashi Murakami and Yayoi Kusama. Murakami’s colourful 2003 range, called Multicolore, and Kusama’s trompe l’oeil dot pieces are instantly recognisable and coveted. As well as the prolific bags, the room also features ready-to- wear lines and accessories, illustrating the place of each piece within a larger collection.
Bags on Blank Canvas
This room displays variations of Vuitton’s famous Monogram and Artycapucines collections as re-imagined by 18 contemporary artists. The “bag designers” range from iconic American sculptor Jeff Koons to 1980s fashion legend Stephen Sprouse and Chinese painter Zeng Fanzhi.
The free exhibition runs for the duration of 2023 at the Louis Vuitton Paris head office at 2 Rue du Pont Neuf.
Louis Vuitton X Yayoi Kusama: “Creating Infinity”
Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, whose designs are featured in the “Leather Goods in Fashion” display and just released Drop 2 of the Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama collaboration. Acting as canvases, Ambassadors and friends of the House – including Lea Seydoux, Cate Blanchett, Justin Timberlake, Naomi Osaka, Hoyeon, and Zhou Dongyu – have posed for a series of playful portraits embellished with colourful, expressionistic statements inspired by some of Yayoi Kusama’s most distinctive motifs.
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