Louis Vuitton has invited Yayoi Kusama to reinterpret a selection of the Maison’s signature pieces from her unique artistic perspective, resulting in a vibrant collaboration. In an ode to audacious art and craftsmanship, the collection introduces new motifs such as Pumpkins, ”Faces”, Figurative Flowers, and Infinity Dots, present throughout the Maison’s designs.
PUMPKINS
It is perhaps the PUMPKINS that takes joyful, centre stage for Drop 2 of this collection. One of the most meaningful and comforting motifs for the artist, the Pumpkin speaks to Kusama – quite literally at times. PUMPKINS have been part of Kusama’s hallucinatory world since being a child, are one of her long-standing themes and occupy a talismanic place in her art.
As she says in her autobiography Infinity Net, “I was enchanted by their charming and winsome form. What appealed to me most was the pumpkin’s generous unpretentiousness. That and its solid spiritual balance.” In the PUMPKINS collection, women’s leather goods take on the startling form of squash at times.
In a nod to the original 2012 collection Pumpkin Minaudiere, the present project’s leather Pumpkin Bag, appearing in yellow & black and silver & multicoloured variations takes on the vegetable’s winsome form and marry it to the LV Monogram in a feat of advanced maroquinerie. In more conventional Monogram offerings, the traditional supple canvas and iconic shapes of the House, such as the OnTheGo, Neverfull and Speedy, are the site for large-scale ‘pumpkin portraits’ aligned and overlapping at the base of the bags. This approach continues in the hard-sided luggage, namely the iconic Louis Vuitton trunks. In the men’s leather goods, the same approach is utilised in an alternate blue colour scheme and grounded on the dark, Monogram canvas Eclipse. Here, the Weekend Tote, Trio Messenger and Keepalls draw focus.
In men’s ready-to-wear, it is an abstraction of form and pattern that is the emphasis in exacting jacquards and denim discharge prints in workwear and technical silhouettes. Graphic playfulness with gradations of saturated teals, turquoise and blues, form the sinuous lines of the Pumpkin in a technical, casual blouson and cargo shorts. While a zipped denim workwear jacket and trousers echo the same themes through expert discharge prints that are the height of denim savoir-faire. Denim accessories, such as the Bucket Hat and Baseball Cap, further explore this abstraction. While jewellery and eyewear are concentrated on luminous colour saturation. A wool stole encapsulates all the qualities of Kusama’s PUMPKINS perfectly while L’Immensité fragrance is also engaged in the artist’s pumpkin realm.
FLOWERS
The next wave of the project further utilises Kusama’s psychedelic take on FLOWERS. Growing up in rural Japan, Kusama’s parents ran seed nurseries on vast tracts of land and in hothouses; the FLOWERS became part of the vivid childhood visual and aural hallucinations that Kusama documented through drawing, easing the shock and fear of the episodes. As the artist states in Infinity Net: ‘That is the origin of my pictures.’
Utilising Kusama’s FLOWERS painting from 2004, the collection focuses on the women’s world. Here, Kusama’s elegant hyper-florals are translated through the height of savoir-faire as delicate embroideries, leather intarsias and intricate prints on clothing; entwining as placement prints on the legs of gabardine trousers, wrapped dresses and skirts and used as an intricately worked intarsia flourish on leather gilets and bustiers. These techniques are echoed in the precise marquetry of leather goods, such as on the Capucines and Monogram Empreinte OnTheGo and Speedy bags. The FLOWERS are also simply and chicly printed on silk foulards and replicated on the bottles and travelling cases of Spell on You.
FACES
Alongside flora, there is also Kusama’s hallucinogenic fauna, in the shape of FACES. Joyful stylized FACES from “My Eternal Soul”, a series of paintings that the celebrated Japanese artist began in 2009 are extracted from and reconfigured, chosen and changed by Kusama and Louis Vuitton, to become distinct characters in the collection. Appearing throughout the women’s and men’s worlds, her joyful creations cascade over clothing and accessories through a combination of hyper-printing and intense embroideries, often on a ground of luminous Delphinium Blue – a new signature colour for Louis Vuitton – or enveloping the Maison’s iconic Monogram.
The Monogram is joyfully interrupted once more in men’s clothing; a technical teal shirt and shorts is made from a new jacquard that marries the Monogram to Kusama’s chaotic characters. While in women’s leather goods, the iconic Monogram canvas is disrupted by a riot of FACES, with a focus on one of the four (nameless) main characters in a combination of rich printing and distinct embroidery on the Neverfull, OnTheGo, Speedy and Alma.
The combination of chicness and chaos continues with the FACES printed and embroidered on the men’s Taurillon leather Monogram bags, all appearing in the new signature blue. A Multi-Pocket Back Pack, the Bum Bag, the Hobo Cruiser and Keepall are just a few of the new, FACES incarnations. While reversible Bucket Hats, Bandanas and Beach Towels also find a proliferation of characters on them in the new signature blue. Meanwhile, the women’s white leather Capucines also succumbs to the FACES; as do blue foulards and the fragrance, Attrape-Rêves. The FACES finally finish their journey on footwear; from embroideries on the women’s Lous Open Back Sneakers, and Monogram Pool Flats to prints on white and black
men’s LV Trainers.
INFINITY DOTS (PART 2)
The second wave of the INFINITY DOTS collection is found across categories and genders once more. Here, additional colourways include black & fuchsia, sky blue & white and white & red. Printed gabardine and 3D knits provide style and structure in signature women’s silhouettes realised in black & fuchsia. While black & fuchsia dots also find form in Monogram Empreinte women’s leather goods, such as the OnTheGo, Neverfull and Pochette Metis. Monogram Empreinte also provides a medium for the sky blue & white colourway, particularly for styles such as the Speedy 20 and Nano Noe. Meanwhile, Epi leather structures white & red dots for House icons such as the Twist and Neonoe. Additional “accessories” can also be found in these colourways: from black & fuchsia reversible bucket hats and silk foulards, via sky blue & white dotted baseball caps to white
& red INFINITY DOTS surfboards! For men, the collection mainly finds form through footwear: from grained calf moccasins and sandals to the latest LV Trainer drops in sky blue & white and yellow & white.
