Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dalí may have invented the art-fashion collaboration, but Louis Vuitton has perfected it. Since Marc Jacobs debuted a collection with Stephen Sprouse in 2000, the first time anyone—ever—was given the blessing to alter or interpret Vuitton’s monogram, the maison has led the way in art-fashion mash-ups. In the near-20 years since that Sprouse collab, the house has enlisted everyone from Richard Prince to Takashi Murakami to Yayoi Kusama to put a spin on its bags, trunks, and ready-to-wear, creating an LV-branded encyclopedia of the contemporary art world. The label has become so synonymous with fine art, in fact, it secured the rights to reproduce works from the Louvre as interpreted by Jeff Koons in 2017—a collaboration that made a Mona Lisa Speedy bag a must-have item.
Today, Louis Vuitton is showing off a bit of its history in Beverly Hills with a new exhibition titled “Louis Vuitton X.” Encompassing two floors of an airy building on Rodeo Drive, the sensory show includes many of the brand’s artist collaborations as well as ready-to-wear pieces from Marc Jacobs, Kim Jones, Nicolas Ghesquière, and Virgil Abloh. Yes, it’s beautiful, historical, and extremely cool—but it’s also staged to be the Instagram spot of Los Angeles for the length of its stay. (A big sorry! to the pink wall outside Paul Smith’s store.)
Timed to the exhibition, LV will unveil six new artist collaborations with Sam Falls, Urs Fischer, Nicholas Hlobo, Alex Israel, Tschabalala Self, and Jonas Wood. Each of those contemporary artists interpreted the label’s Capucines bag, named after the location of its first store in Paris. The classically shaped tote was embroidered by Falls, woven and morphed by Hlobo, collaged by Self, and embroidered and dyed by Wood. Israel, a Los Angeles native, brought his signature wave pattern to the piece, going as far as to outfit it with removable surfboard fins that double as a comb and mirror. “I felt that my wave needed a surfboard element to complete the total feeling of the world I wanted the bag to evoke, so we went ahead and added a pair of fins to the silhouette,” he said in a release. “We’re a beach culture here in Southern California, and waves dictate the rhythm and pace of L.A. life.”
If that seems wildly fun, just wait until you see Fischer’s bag, which transforms his fruit sculptures and paintings into dangling charms. “I’m not someone who is usually comfortable taking on commissioned work, but occasionally I stumble across something that I am happy to do, and this was the case with the Capucines bag,” Fischer said, explaining he intentionally chose to represent organic forms over man-made objects. “The things I chose are, in themselves, perfect shapes, so there was nothing else to add. An egg is already amazing; if it were spherical, it would be boring. Fruits are often made to be very attractive in the same way that flowers are; that is how plants communicate and, in a way, it’s also how they have sex.”
So a sexy bag that doubles as an art project that comes at the end of a smart and social media–friendly exhibition that will make all your friends jealous? Do we need to say more? We’ll we just add this: Rumor has it all of LV’s famous friends are coming to celebrate the show and collaborations sometime this week—you won’t want to miss it.
“Louis Vuitton X” is on view June 28 to September 15 at 468 North Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills. Admission is free.
https://www.vogue.com/article/louis-vuitton-x-arty-capucines-collaborations