Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama – Chapter Two

Ten years after its global collaboration, Louis Vuitton launches chapter two of its partnership with Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, hitting stores worldwide in January 2023.

Since the creation of Louis Vuitton in 1854, the Maison has nurtured strong ties with the art world, collaborating with a series of artists who have brought their unique vision to Louis Vuitton. These close relationships have produced often radical reworkings of the Maison’s most iconic creations, in the process rewriting the rules of creative collaborations between luxury brands and artists. Yayoi Kusama’s collaboration in 2012 (Part one in July 2012 –  Part two in October 2012) flourished through various universes of the Maison, from exhibitions, products and a series of unique window installations, which included a startingly life-like mannequin modelled after the artist herself.

Finale at the Louis Vuitton Cruise 2023 show in San Diego and some detail shots:

Yayoi Kusama, born in March 1929, is an avant-garde artist whose perspective is expressed through myriad techniques from sculpture, painting, installation, filmmaking, photography, and happening, to writing in a variety of styles. She is regarded as a precursor to Pop and Minimal art, yet her diverse art practices resist any singular classification. Yayoi Kusama’s artworks originated from hallucinations such as where the red flower patterns on a dining table’s tablecloth started to spread across the walls, floor, and even across herself…She has been battling her inner fears and obsessions and pursuing the mysteries of life by depicting the hallucinations she has experienced since her childhood. Please click here for a post about her retrospective in Berlin last year.

Look 51 Louis Vuitton Cruise 2023

As a celebration of the Maison’s relationship with the artist and to mark the 10-year anniversary of the first collaboration, a handful of leather goods were premiered during Artistic Director of Women’s Collections Nicolas Ghesquière’s Cruise 2023 fashion show at the Salk Institute in San Diego. These exclusive bags feature a reinterpretation of the artist’s obsessive dots across Louis Vuitton signature shapes as well as on new models. A true first taste of a transversal collaboration that, come January 2023, will radiate through all Maison categories.

More information will be disclosed at a later date.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Louis Vuitton
DISCLOSURE: We may earn commission from links on this page, but I only recommend products I love. Promise.

Dior Lady Art #5

For the fifth edition of Dior Lady Art, ten artists and collectives from around the world participate in a game of reinterpretation and metamorphosis, approaching the iconic Lady Dior like a unique work of art.

My favorite Dior Lady Art bags from this season are the ones by Judy Chicago…

From one horizon to another, from China to Madagascar, India to South Africa, and Russia to the United States, Joël Andrianomearisoa, Judy Chicago, Gisela Colon, Song Dong, Bharti Kher, Mai-Thu Perret, Recycle Group, Chris Soal, Claire Tabouret and Olga Titus have taken the bag to new heights, infusing its architecture and charms with their imagination and inspirations.

… which are available in three different sizes.

In an exceptional symbiosis that surpasses boundaries and mixes past, present and future, these artists’ captivating universes bridge nature and the cosmos, poetry and life’s mysteries.

There is even a little surprise when you turn the bag around.

Shaped by its extraordinary destiny, The Lady Dior becomes, more than ever, an object of art and desire, a virtuoso celebration of freedom and excellence. In selected Dior stores now, including the Zurich one where I took the photos.

The limited edition bags have all their own label.

Below you can read more about the different artists and the inspiration behind each bag:

JUDY CHICAGO

An emblematic founder of feminist art, Judy Chicago has made her work and her research a means of combatting patriarchal ideas. This multitalented personality has never ceased to develop a singular aesthetic questioning male domination and celebrating the success of women, often forgotten or relegated to the sidelines despite their important contributions. Instead of the clean, angular lines her contemporaries favored, she prefers generous, sensual, colorful and suggestive curves, where spirals and shells evoke symbols of feminine power, like the paintings she chose in revisiting the iconic Lady Dior.

Thanks to a dichroic treatment, a testament to the innovative savoir-faire in the ateliers, her three reinvented bags are adorned with fascinating pearly, metallic or iridescent effects. Hypnotic motifs reprising her paintings come to life through captivating and unexpected plays of light, in glittering reflections. Each of these exceptional pieces is signed with a caption representing the work depicted, the better to let their creative source shine; an ultimate ode to pluralistic femininity that extends the passionate and committed dialogue with Dior that began with Maria Grazia Chiuri’s S/S 2020 Haute Couture collection.

SONG DONG

«Windows»: Song Dong perceives and reinvents the Lady Dior as an object of desire on the edge of existence and redefines it; puts it on the outskirts of «inside» and «outside» the world and the spirit, and reconstructs the inseparable mutual «parasitic» relationship between users and it, as both a bridge and a reflection of their multiple facets. Driven by a yearning for infinite freedom, the artist wished to reveal the ephemeral nature of human behavior and explore concepts that are both complex and fascinating, such as idleness, uselessness and the absence of limits. His childhood in china, marked by a traditional education amidst the cultural revolution, instilled in him an even greater passion for painting that can be «freely expressed». At that time, he thought of painting as synonymous with escape and a space for «free breathing».

Later, the «painting» he was interested in was replaced by a broader «art life» and it became the true source and resource of his creative energy. Having grown up in the 1980s during china’s reform and opening up, «window» is a symbol of «freedom» and «openness» for him, where it is a philosophical object that drives thinking. He revisited the Lady Dior with refined graphics and colorful compositions mixed with a play of mirrors. This abstract reinterpretation is called “Windows Bag”, which gives the traditional concept of «bag» a «window» attribute. It seems to metamorphose according to light, shadows, places and faces. A dazzling icon, in perpetual movement, that calls for the (re)discovery of oneself. «the «windows bag» puts the world it is in outside of it and coexists with the world in the bag,» he said.

MAI-THU PERRET

From Bauhaus to dance, and tantric yoga to literary modernism, the Franco Swiss artist Mai-Thu Perret explores the boundaries between disciplines. Her installations – mixing video, painting and sculpture – favor raw and handcrafted materials such as ceramics, embroidery or rattan. Her process represents a way of reconsidering, through techniques often judged as being merely decorative, the place of women in western art. Through her striking works, she explores the utopias of our civilization and the notion of community, notably through the prism of feminism. Fascinated by imaginary languages, she created a mysterious alphabet composed of abstract signs inspired by an educational method applied in 19th-century German kindergartens.

At the crossroads of cuneiform writing, painting and Mondrian’s aesthetic, these letters unfold in the form of a tapestry on the Lady Dior bag, and on miniature versions elevated by precious glass bead embroidery. The creations feature handles and enameled metal “Dior” charms, reproduced after ceramics hand-shaped by the artist, questioning the fashion lexicon and the symbolism of the logo. A virtuoso celebration of savoir-faire and the beauty of the gesture that are dear to both Mai-Thu Perret and the house of Dior.

BHARTI KHER

In the United Kingdom, where she grew up, and in India – her parents’ home country, where she now lives – Bharti Kher explores issues of identity and culture through captivating works. In reinterpreting strong symbols, her pieces weave links between the past and modernity, in the manner of the bindi, the common thread of her universe. This circular marking, which Indian women apply to their forehead, can be both a sophisticated fashion accessory and a symbol.

The artist transforms the bindi, diverting and transcending its social meaning. Fascinated by this «third eye,» the feminist artist has made it her signature; an emblem revisited through creations that mix painting, collage, photography and sculpture. On the Lady Dior, this singular motif appear as delicate snakes forms (looks a lot like sperm to me :-)), incarnations of a life force, transformation and healing. Enhanced by a warm chromatic palette, they blossom in hypnotic movements over Dior’s iconic handbag.

CHRIS SOAL

Influenced by the cultural identity of his native South Africa, where he is based, Chris Soal questions the close and complex relationships between urban life, intimate environments and ecology. A creative approach that incorporates salvaged materials reflects his sensitivity to textures, forms and light. The artist creates engaging sculptures composed entirely of everyday objects, the ephemeral and functional nature of which is transformed into a lasting work of art. For Dior, he plays on the striking contrast between these trivial elements, so many symbols of consumer society, and the Lady Dior, which is imbued with a powerful heritage and virtuoso savoir-faire.

In this way, he covers the iconic bag with folded bottle caps bearing the «Dior» signature, suggestive of cowrie shells, unfurling in enchanting colors. Like an ode to his artistic signature, the « charm in the Dior name takes the form of an elegant bottle opener. Meanwhile, a version is adorned with toothpicks, worked, painted and embroidered by hand, a unique expression of the ‘petites mains’ infinite skill. Illusory effects hover between imagination and reality, duality and symbiosis, offering a new perception of the world and of fashion.

GISELA COLON

Inspired by life forces, universal energies and the planetary system, Gisela Colón has developed a singular language, deploying a fascinating lexicon of geometric forms and organic figures. Minimalist and futuristic, her iconic monoliths and biomorphic cells – wall sculptures that seemingly mutate, like promises of the future – stand at the crossroads of art and science. Conceived using the latest technologies, her works feature innovative materials used in the aerospace industry, emitting holographic reflections that shift according to the light.

Bridging reality and fantasy, the earth and the galaxy, her surprising works reinterpret the shades and architectural lines of the Lady Dior, giving life to two unique creations. Baptized Stardust and Amazonia, they symbolize, through their hypnotic colors, interstellar magic and the world’s enchanting mysteries. In a last signature detail, the «Dior» charms are punctuated with a monolith, an emblem that for Gisela Colón represents equality, power and beauty. These «bags of the future», as the artist calls them, combine the enchanting spirit of the milky way and nature, paying tribute to Christian Dior’s passion for the divinatory arts and constellations.

CLAIRE TABOURET

Landscapes, bodies embracing or confronting one other, children in costumes, young debutantes, group portraits, migrants at sea… Highlighting the vulnerability of human relationships, Claire Tabouret’s subjects enchant for their sensitivity, singular perspective and disconcerting mystery. Illustrating herself in figurative art, the French painter adopts a unique color palette mixing natural hues with artificial, synthetic, almost acidic shades, bathing her paintings in an instantly recognizable atmosphere. Approaching the Lady Dior as a blank canvas offering her imagination free rein, she transposes her self-portrait, enlivened by bold, expressive brushstrokes, onto one of the bags, where she appears in the guise of a vampire with a blood-stained mouth, devouring the iconic bag’s charms.

At once surprising and romantic, this version of the bag is accentuated by a white lace collar, a subtle evocation of Dracula’s phantasmagorical costume. Her painting depicting a round of dancers gracefully unfolds on another version in faux fur, like an echo of the hypnotic, liberated discipline dear to Christian Dior and Maria Grazia Chiuri. An ode to the house’s virtuoso attention to detail, these creations are adorned with phosphorescent linings, glowing reflections of the artist’s chromatic signature.

RECYCLE GROUP

Having grown up together – both the children of artist parents – and collaborated years later on the exhibition Recycle, Andrey Blokhin and Georgy Kuznetsov – a creative duo positioned on the frontiers of reality – founded Recycle Group in 2008. Through subliminal messages, they question the paradoxical nature of the future and explore the concept of «virtual immortality» in order to highlight the powerful and complex relationship between man and machine.


Their obsessive and hypnotic works incorporate tangible materials, media and augmented reality, plunging art into a new, freestyle and daring dimension. For the Dior Lady Art project, their take on the iconic bag symbolizes a shifting vision of the world, shaped by the contemporary digital frenzy, with wave and vortex effects deconstructing and re-sculpting the legendary cannage motif. Resembling an immaterial object, the Lady Dior metamorphoses and opens itself up to multiple perceptions. Bridging the past and a digitalized future, these exceptional creations reflect dazzling realms from which emerges our own relationship to existence.


JOËL ANDRIANOMEARISOA

From Antananarivo to Paris, Joël Andrianomearisoa cultivates a fascination for the city, that mysterious entity, that «everything» where his prolific inspiration culminates from sounds, fragrances, textures, beings, and even architecture. His creative research is woven from the infinite diversity of emotions that he strives to materialize in the name of sweet melancholy, an inevitable absence that all understand yet cannot name. His elusive and magnetic works makes the fragility and intensity of desire an essential life force. «Take me to the end of all loves» chants the labyrinth of Lady Dior, like a testament to passions already sated, promises of new love stories.


On the surface, superimposed materials, like delicate millefeuilles, reproduce heartbeats, while inside, an immaculate lining symbolizes love’s whirlwinds. The story begins with the packaging, a showcase and a unique artwork in paper. In black embellished with leather or radzimir silk, both versions are adorned with embroidery and cut-outs, as well as words, whispers and caresses, like living works in perpetual motion. As a final poetic surprise, a small book accompanies them, spanning memoir, a journal of this project, and a diary of their future lives. An ode to sentiments, and a sensitive reading of the world.

OLGA TITUS

Each of Olga Titus’s plural, magnetic works is a celebration of the world and its infinitely rich customs. Inspired by the heritage of her grandparents, who were of Indian and Malaysian origin, as well as by her many travels, the swiss artist weaves precious links between civilizations through eclectic creations. Her territory of experimentation is an ‘elsewhere’, a cosmos, an encounter between self and other: an imaginary place where a new culture comes to life, in the image of the «third space» theorized by Homi K. Bhabha.

Open to multiple readings, her work hovers between material and digital realities, allowing the proliferation of individualities and singular expressions to blossom. Her sequin paintings, which extend the field of possibilities, are born of a will to go beyond digital realizations by making them tangible. Adorned with delicate kaleidoscopic beads, her reinterpretations of Lady Dior, which she sees as «a little cosmos», reveal thanks to their double-faceted finish, a hybrid ornament in perpetual movement that, to the touch, gives rise to two distinct universes. On the miniature version of the iconic bag, decorative masks embody Olga Titus’s unique signature and pay homage to the arts of the world, from Africa to Asia, an allegory for her own cabinet of curiosities that transcends everyday objects.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Dior and © Sandra Bauknecht

Louis Vuitton New Wave

The «Louis Vuitton New Wave» collection heralds a new attitude, taking inspiration from the musical genre of the same name to revisit the joyful, colourful spirit of the Eighties in an unexpected way.

This collection is rooted in the art of travel that sealed the House’s reputation as soon as 
it was founded in 1854. In particular, one trunk was decorated with a graphic, multicoloured motif that undulated like a wave. From this historical detail comes the subtle quilted design of the «Louis Vuitton New Wave» line. To make these bags the ideal everyday companion, like a favorite leather jacket you never leave home without, the house chose to create each style in exceptionally soft, supple lambskin.

Available in store starting July 7th.
Freesia and Emerald colours available starting September.

I am so in love with the embellished or denim version. One of those will definitely be on my shopping list!

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Louis Vuitton

This Is a Stick Up!

Anya Hindmarch SS15 Fashion Week Fixation

London Fashion Week S/S 2015 finished yesterday and I have a gazillion things to show you! One thing that really has caught my eye are those super-playful stickers from Anya Hindmarch‘s crazy runway show that got everyone talking. It is such a fun way to reboot your accessories.

Anya Hindmarch Bag with stickers

Created in collaboration with Charlotte Stockdale of Chaos Fashion, you can stick it to your work diary for a playful bit of visual motivation, but please note, those stickers are designed to adhere to surfaces permanently so once applied they cannot be removed.

AnyaHindmarch Sticker Bag SS15Anya Hindmarch SS15 Finale

For the runway finale, Anya Hindmarch let the models waltz in life-size neon teacups onto the set while dancers clad in ultraviolet skeleton bodysuits performed a “Thriller”-style dance.

Anya Hindmarch Fixation

Great news is that you can shop the stickers off the next season’s runway, exclusively at NET-A-PORTER.COMicon.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Anya Hindmarch, Indigital, Chaos Fashion and © Sandra Bauknecht

Next Stop: The Gucci Museo in Florence

Gucci Museo Welcome

After we had visited the Gucci manufacture, we went to the Gucci Museo in the center of Florence (Piazza della Signoria, 10), which had opened its doors in September 2011.
For photos of the opening party, please click here.

Now, I would like to walk you through the museum and give you some information on the brand’s iconic looks and signature pieces. Enjoy!

Travel

Ground floor: TRAVEL

History tells how, as a teenager, Guccio Gucci worked as a lift boy at the Savoy Hotel in London where he was fascinated by the elegance of the upper class guests at the turn of the 20th century. On his return to Italy, the young Guccio opened a workshop specializing in the production of travelware and accessories. The first cases and trunks to be produced in Florence bore the inscription: G. Gucci, Articles for Travel, Florence. Defining the brand in English highlighted its founder’s international vision, which was aimed from the outset at modern travelers of the time across the globe. Impeccably high quality crafted goods, then as now.

Leonardo Gucci PrintTravel set “Leonardo” print, 1950’s

IMG_0671Trunk, pigskin, 1930’s

Travelling in style:

1979 Gucci cadillacIMG_0678

 

Precious

1st floor: PRECIOUS

A selection of jewelry and items showcasing Gucci’s creativity in finding unique ways to combine practicality and beauty. Crystal-studded minaudières, powder compacts, buckles and all sorts of jewelry pieces are all tiny but timeless treasures.

Jewelry„Tiger head“ necklace and bracelet, enamelled silver, early 1970’s

Brooch GucciBrooch, enamelled gold, 1980’s
This piece reminds me a lot of my Bague Diorette, don’t you agree?!
But Gucci was obviously first…


Flora World

1st floor: FLORA WORLD

The story began in Milan in 1966, when Prince Ranier of Monaco brought his wife to the Gucci boutique. Roldolfo Gucci insisted that Princess Grace choose a gift to accompany the bamboo bag she had purchased. The Princess requested a scarf. Rodolfo felt that the House lacked one sufficiently beautiful for the royal style icon and so he commissioned illustrator Vittorio Accornero to create the most beautiful print he could imagine. Accornero returned with his painting: the “Flora”, a sumptuos, multi-hued, flowered template destined to become a design classic.

Flora WorldIMG_0734

When Giannini revived Flora on printed canvas bags in summer 2005, a new generation succumbed to its charms. In 2006, it appeared re-scaled, re-coloured and abstracted onto Forties-style print dresses, jewellery and evening bags.

IMG_0738IMG_1008

I was over the moon to see that my own closet has got some museum pieces.
How cool is that?!

 

Bags

1st floor: HANDBAGS

Bags are Gucci’s signature and therefore the museum dedicated one part of the exhibition to the house’s rich creative heritage of various models. Continuously evolving over the years, with creation of iconic models such as the Bamboo Bag, the Jackie and those immediately recognizable by Gucci symbols including the horsebit and green-red-green web (Web is the name for the iconic Gucci stripes).

IMG_0745Leather, „riding crop“, shoulder strap in horn, early 1970’s

IMG_0749Short handle bags in raffia, leather, pigskin, late 1950’s and early 1960’s


Evening

1st floor: EVENING

Gucci’s evening wear is designed to be worn on the red carpet and the most exclusive events on the international stage, from Cannes to Los Angeles and New York to Paris. The house’s couture label is called Gucci Première.

HilaryIMG_0793

Here you can see some of the distinguished moments in the history of fashion and haute couture, celebrated through gowns worn by Hilary Swank and Naomi Watts.

Naomi4IMG_0784

 

Logomania

2nd floor: LOGOMANIA

The GG is the most significant symbol in Gucci’s long history. The initials of founder Guccio Gucci first featured on the clasps of his bags in the early 1960’s, finding new interpretations over the years: recreated in gold and silver, on precious leather, velvet and silk.

IMG_0810Shirt and skirt, jersey with „horsebit“ print, suede, early 1970’s
Dress, silk with „horsebit and horseshoe print, mid 1970’s

Gucci 12Shoulder bags and moccasin, „horsebit print fabric“, mid 1970’s

 

Lifestyle GucciGucci Lampshade

2nd floor: LIFESTYLE

From fashion to items dedicated to leisure and recreational activities, Gucci’s style is reflected in every moment of daily life. From the opening of the first store in Florence in 1921, Guccio Gucci offered his distinguished clients giftware and souvenirs, a creative progress which has continued through the years, transforming his products into cult items: thermos holders and picnic sets, parlor games, table lamps, and sets of glasses and, more recently, even an electric guitar. Home or away, these are the items which complete the Gucci lifestyle.

IMG_0822

IMG_0831

 

Sport Gucci

2nd floor: SPORT

From horseback riding to golf, Guccio Gucci always found inspiration in the various sporting disciplines practiced by his most sophisticated clientele. Gucci logos and symbols customized technically competitive sport items which all had their own original style. Golf club bags, tennis racket bags, surfboards, flippers and masks are some of the latest items in the range, which showcase Gucci’s craftsmanship applied to products that complement the wardrobes of sports professionals and sports fans alike. More recently, Guccissima Leather has been used to cover items from bicycle seats and snow sleds to saddles and a whole host of riding accessories, reflecting the sport’s continuing influence in the House’s collections.

On display is also the outfit from Gucci’s second equestrian collection designed exclusively for Charlotte Casiraghi by Creative Director Frida Giannini that the equestrian heiress wore throughout her participation in the 2011 Global Champions Tour.

IMG_0855

IMG_0863

IMG_0874

I hope that you have enjoyed your museum’s tour.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht, Celebrities: Courtesy of Gucci