Louis Vuitton’s Yayoi Kusama tie-up

Launched just over 10 years ago, Louis Vuitton’s Yayoi Kusama tie-up was – according to a 2013 report by the Business Of Fashion – the “largest artist collaboration initiated by any luxury goods or fashion house to date”. Besides a full suite of fashion products (from ready-to-wear to leather goods to jewellery), the windows of Louis Vuitton stores all over the globe were spectacularly taken over by Kusama’s signature spots and swirling tentacles. In addition, there were seven pop-up concept spaces in hyper-hip shopping destinations, such as Printemps in Paris and Dover Street Market in Tokyo. That Kusama was (and remains) the oldest and best-selling living female artist in the world made the endeavour all the more monumental.

Billed with the tagline “Creating Infinity,” the new collection builds on Kusama’s previous collaboration with the French brand back in 2012—back when it was led by American designer Marc Jacobs—embedding her artistic vision into the makeup of signature models from the brand’s catalogue as well as new wares crafted specifically for this collaboration. First teased back at the Cruise 2023 fashion show at the Louis Kahn-designed Salk Institute in Chicago, the new collection was announced to the world through a selection of bags showcased by Nicolas Ghesquière, the brand’s Artistic Director of Women’s Collections. Besides its major implications for both the brand’s global appeal and its relationship with the Japanese artist, who is among the most celebrated practitioners of her time, the initiative also spans multiple disciplines, adopting a spatial dimension through the retail activations that are accompanying its release. In effect, this venture continues the brand’s storied history of partnering with acclaimed artists to envision new attitudes towards luxury design.

"In line with Louis Vuitton's past artistic collaborations, the encounter between the maison and Yayoi Kusama is grounded in sincerity, in iconoclasm and above all, in a mutual appreciation of craft and excellence over the commonplace," the brand said, in a press release. "At Louis Vuitton, when it comes to the magic of making objects, anything is possible."