Louis Vuitton X celebrates 160 years of artistic collaboration at the fashion house
Louis Vuitton has created an exhibition in Los Angeles that showcases its collaborations with leading artists over the past 160 years, complete with custom bags and a tropical pop-up shop.
The Louis Vuitton X exhibition at the 468 North Rodeo Drive building in Beverly Hills contains 180 items from the French fashion house's archive.
The items are displayed in 10 vibrantly coloured rooms. Some of the exhibition spaces are dark black with colourful glowing light designs, while others resemble crisp white galleries or museums with glass-fronted displays.
One exhibit room features checkerboard walls, ceiling and floors in a dusty rose colour. Chunks of the room depict a turquoise ocean with a boat, dock and cliffs. Another space has white walls covered with Louis Vuitton in black font, layered with dozens of colourful contemporary paintings.
Included in the exhibition are six Louis Vuitton Monogram leather duffle bags that have been reinterpreted by renowned artists and designers, including the late Karl Lagerfeld and Zaha Hadid, as well as Rei Kawakubo, Yayoi Kusama, Cindy Sherman and Frank Gehry.
Another highlight of the exhibit is Louis Vuitton's latest Artycapucines collection, a collaborative project with six contemporary artists who have custom-designed Capucines bags for the label. Sam Falls, Urs Fischer, Nicholas Hlobo, Alex Israel, Tschabalala Self and Jonas Wood each created a design.
These purses are displayed symmetrically on white podiums, each lit with a different colour.
At the top floor of the building is a pop-up store. The retail space is decorated with pink palm trees, while a domed yellow ceiling is designed to glow like a sunset.
The shop includes products curated by Sarah Andelman, founder of consulting and curating company Just an Idea and former creative director of Parisian concept store Colette.
Pieces for sale are Louis Vuitton women's ready-to-wear clothes, leather goods, accessories, shoes and fragrances.
Additional highlights at the exhibit include a collection of early twentieth-century special-order Louis Vuitton trunks, art deco perfume bottles, and window displays designed by Louis Vuitton’s grandson, Gaston-Louis.
In Dallas, Texas, a retrospective of Dior's work has been designed by OMA partner Shohei Shigematsu, while the Gender Bending Fashion exhibit took place in Boston.
Louis Vuitton X is on show until 15 September 2019 at 468 North Rodeo Drive building in Beverly Hills, California.
Photography is by Brad Dickson.