A powerful entity in the world of fashion, Louis Vuitton’s
reach over the years has extended much beyond its humble beginnings as
a luggage brand. In its latest book release, LV’s unparalleled reach
over numerous facets of society and design are outlined in its
self-titled book, Louis Vuitton: Art, Fashion and Architecture. The
book’s contents delve into the brand’s history and association with
numerous personalities from the world of art, architecture, design,
photography and fashion. A cornerstone of creativity, the Louis Vuitton
book features 400 pages filled stunning imagery and will be available
in three languages, English, French and Italian. A special deluxe
version will release on September 1st, 2009 at LouisVuitton.com
and at Louis Vuitton stores and features artwork by Takashi Murakami.
The book is priced at $130 USD. Below is a synopsis of the book as well
as a three-question interview with Yves Carcelle, Chairman and CEO of
Louis Vuitton.
Louis Vuitton and Creation
A symbol of elegance and the French art de vivre, Louis Vuitton has
cultivated a close relationship with the world of art since its
founding in 1854. Inventing the art of travel, Louis Vuitton and his
successors kept pace with a rapidly changing age, and worked with the
most accomplished engineers, decorators, painters, photographers and
designers of the day. This fascination with ever-new forms of
expression grew through the subsequent decades and continues today
under the guidance of its artistic director, Marc Jacobs; shoes,
watches, jewelry and ready-to-wear collections have joined alongside
the malletier’s distinctive bags and travel accessories.
Louis Vuitton’s interest in the arts began in the 1980s when it
started working with painters like César, Sol LeWitt and Olivier Debré.
Demonstrating the influence of art on artisanship, these richly
textured collaborations became a tradition and reached a new level when
Marc Jacobs joined the House in 1997. Passionate about contemporary
art, Jacobs invited some of the world’s most renowned artists to join
forces with Louis Vuitton, increasing the points of exchange between
art and fashion to an unprecedented degree. Among these renowned
partnerships, the late Stephen Sprouse, Takashi Murakami and Richard
Prince even intervened directly with the House’s Monogram, freely
appropriating its forms and visual identity. Collaborations between
Louis Vuitton and other artists have taken a variety of forms: shop
window designs, site-specific art installations for stores, exhibitions
at the Espace Louis Vuitton on the top floor of the Champs-Elysées
Maison, and the acquisitions of new works for the House’s own
collection. In the same spirit, Louis Vuitton has called upon an
international pantheon of architects to design its stores, including
Jun Aoki, Kumiko Inui and Peter Marino. Advertising campaigns have also
created opportunities to work with talented photographers as Jean
Larivière, Annie Leibovitz, Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.
Interview with Yves Carcelle, Chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton
Why publish today a retrospective book on the major collaborations of Louis Vuitton?
At Louis Vuitton, the influence of art has been an obvious inspiration
for new products, store architecture, artistic collaborations, and for
the Maison’s advertising campaigns. Our will to build and grow our
relationship with the contemporary art world has led us to work with
numerous artists of our times such as photographers, architects and
fashion designers. It was essential for Louis Vuitton to trace, through
an enthralling anthology, its most significant artistic collaborations.
In this book, the focus remains on artists that have impacted the
history of Louis Vuitton.
What is Louis Vuitton’s role in the world of the contemporary creation?
Of all modern luxury brands, Louis Vuitton can claim to maintain the
richest and most varied associations with the world of art – indeed, it
is a tradition that dates back almost to the origins of the House. This
desire to continuously create and reinvent, whilst maintaining and
transmitting the history and identity of the brand, has been
transformed into multiples collaborations, most of time quite
unexpected. Constantly renewed under the influence of Marc Jacobs,
Louis Vuitton’s commitment to the arts has recently been underscored by
the establishment of the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation,
announced in October 2006 by Bernard Arnault, Chairman & CEO of
LVMH/Moët Hennessy.Louis Vuitton. The future Fondation will be an
exciting new space and concept intended to stimulate dialogue with a
wide audience and offer artists and intellectuals a platform for
discussion, inspiration and reflection. If the brand inspires artists,
designers and architects, they, in return, inspire Louis Vuitton. This
mutual inspiration is very challenging and productive, not only for the
luxury world, but also for the contemporary art world.
How do you explain the success of Louis Vuitton’s collaborations?
Fashion, luxury, art and architecture unite to propose a new vision of
the world and take us away from the ordinary. Contemporary art gives us
an alternative point of view. Modern architecture, inseparable from the
luxury world, plays a key role in setting Louis Vuitton’s name in
present time. The fashion industry and its designers give a fresh
energy and a unique creativity to the House’s ready-to-wear
collections. A contemporary artist, whether he is an architect, a
photographer or a fashion designer, often produces unexpected
creations. It is a bold challenge for Louis Vuitton and I believe that
only a handful of brands have been able to surpass the boundaries to
this point between luxury and contemporary creation.
A selection of 80 Artists
Haluk Akakçe, Azzedine Alaïa, Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott, Jun Aoki,
Ron Arad, Arman, Gae Aulenti, Shigeru Ban, Philippe Barthélémy &
Sylvia Griño, Vanessa Beecroft, Manolo Blahnik, Eric Carlson, Gilles
Carnoy, César, Jaime Chard, Kirill Celuskin, Sandro Chia, Claude
Closky, Patrick Demarchelier, Olivier Debré, Vincent Dubourg, Olafur
Eliasson, Teresita Fernández, Sylvie Fleury, Frank Gehry, Romeo Gigli,
Jean-Paul Goude, Guzman, Zaha Hadid, Hans Hemmert, Anouska Hempel,
Fritz Hansen, Kumiko Inui, Arata Isozaki, Marc Jacobs, Alexey Kallima,
Rei Kawakubo, David LaChapelle, Xavier Lambours, Helmut Lang, Jean
Larivière, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Ange Leccia, Annie Leibovitz, Sol
LeWitt, Christian Liaigre, Michael Lin, Katherina Manolessou, Peter
Marino, Raymond Meier, Miss.Tic, Isaac Mizrahi, Nicolas Moulin, Takashi
Murakami, Malakeh Nayini, Jean-Jacques Ory, Martin Parr, Bruno Peinado,
Fabrizio Plessi, Richard Prince, Andrée Putman, Jean-Pierre Raynaud,
Razzia, Ugo Rondinone, James Rosenquist, Alberto Sorbelli, Stephen
Sprouse, Philippe Starck, Sybilla, Juergen Teller, Ruben Toledo, Nicole
Tran Ba Vang, James Turrell, Inez van amsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin,
Julie Verhoeven, Zhan Wang, Vivienne Westwood, Tim White-Sobieski,
Robert Wilson, William Adjété Wilson.
