Louis Vuitton is rolling out ready-to-wear, leather goods, accessories, and perfumes in collaboration with 93-year-old fine artist Yayoi Kusama. The partnership will be accompanied by carefully curated campaigns and high-profile activations.
Since the initial announcement of this collaboration, there has been quick progress in getting consumers excited. Last May, Nicolas Ghesquière, the brand’s artistic director of women’s collections, accessorized some of his cruise 2023 outfits with polka-dot handbags. A Tokyo takeover followed at the Tokyo Tower, Zojoji Temple, and Tokyo station, where a combination of physical installations and augmented reality activations got a buzz going. Further excitement about this drop was reflected by an Instagram post of the anamorphic billboard Vuitton installed in Tokyo’s swarming Shinjuku district that scored more than 10 million views. It shows Kusama peering out from a decorated Vuitton trunk with animated fruit friends.
Delphine Arnault, Vuitton’s executive vice president, said, “One of the aspects of her [Kusama] work is happiness, and we thought it would be really refreshing after the pandemic to have the worlds of Vuitton and the world of Kusama meet again.”
One thing is crystal clear after the success of this partnership in 2012 between the luxury giant and artist. They share an obsession with perfection in concept, execution and craft. The new collection encompasses Kusama’s “infinity dots” and metal dots, first introduced in 1966, alongside floral and pumpkin motifs. It took the Vuitton team countless trials to achieve the desired effect of seamless floating dots that resemble wet paint.
Steven Meisel’s images of Gisele Bündchen, Liya Kebede, Devon Aoki, Christy Turlington, Anok Yai and other famous models are set to release on Dec. 26 in Japanese fashion magazines. The pre-launch of products will drop on January 1 in Japan and China. All offerings should be available worldwide in all 460 LV stores on January 6.
