Louis Vuitton Unveils Yayoi Kusama Collaboration

[THREAD] Louis Vuitton Unveils Yayoi Kusama Collaboration

Just in time for the Whitney's Yayoi Kusama career retrospective this July, Louis Vuitton has released images of its long-awaited collaboration with the 82-year-old Japanese artist, slated to hit stores July 10.

Composed of two merchandise collections—a range of ready-to-wear and accessories followed by monogrammed leather pieces in the fall—the collaboration is the brand's most notable partnership since pop artist Takashi Murakami, whose cartoony, rainbow-painted pieces became something of a cultural phenomenon after finding fans in the likes of Kanye West and Nicky Hilton.

But with the global fame and notoriety of flame-haired Kusama, the new collection—which centers around the artist's signature polka-dot motif (an affinity shared by creative director Marc Jacobs, who even named his most recent fragrance "Dot")—is sure to be similarly impactful.

Jacobs described the collection to WWD as capturing "the essence of the spirit of [Kusama's] work," her painstakingly placed polka dots echoing the House's signature logo pattern.

“In a fascinating way, the monogram canvas is as obsessional as Yayoi’s dots," Louis Vuitton president and CEO, Yves Carcelle, ruminated in a WWD interview.

Happily for Kusama fans with shallow pockets, the brand will also launch an iPad in which users can upload photos of their own handbags and customize them with Kusama-designed prints and patterns.

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