Consumer Dreams: Louis Vuitton collaborations we want to see
Consumer Dreams: Louis Vuitton collaborations we want to see
BY: ALEX PAULY
What’s beige, brown, and monogrammed all over? Hint: step outside and you’ll likely see it slung over the arm of at least one woman in the crowd. Louis Vuitton’s iconic logo is a globally recognized status symbol for the fashionable, rich, and famous—as well as those who aspire to be all of the above. Its ubiquitous desirability makes the designer logo perfect fodder for consumers, counterfeiters, cultural commentators, and artists alike. Remember the smiling, irresistibly cute cherries that peppered pastel versions of Louis Vuitton monogram purses? That was the product of Vuitton’s collaboration with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. And those LV totes dressed with graffiti in fluorescent paint? Stephen Sprouse for Louis Vuitton.
Lately, you may have noticed well-heeled women toting a unrecognizable version of the iconic Speedy 30—printed with works of old masters like Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa or Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s A Woman With A Dog. Those art history lessons by way of covetable arm candy are the concept of Jeff Koons. We haven’t a clue who the design house will collaborate with next, but we have a few suggestions.
Jeanette’s paintings feature famous classical and contemporary works, from Botticelli to de Kooning, overlaid with pop culture and Internet iconography such as Sailor Moon and the iPhone keyboard. Her juxtaposition of the high and low applied to Vuitton products would make for tongue-in-cheek commentary on the cultural value of designer purses.
George’s self-proclaimed style of “artificial realism” mixes cubism with pop, twistedly evoking the many mental states of the human psyche. In fact, Kanye West commissioned the painter to create five covers for his 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Perhaps George could provide us with a grimmer take on LV’s logo mania.
Maurizio Cattelan + Pierpalo Ferrari
Maurizio and Pierpaolo are the Italian artist duo behind TOILETPAPER, a magazine comprised exclusively of glossy images that relate to each issue’s broader theme, such as love or greed. The pair’s surreal photographic tableaus—one that immediately comes to mind is a pink bar of soap with a large bite taken out of it—always elicit a double take. Their bizarre point of view would reinvigorate the classic Vuitton monogram in, predictably, the most unexpected manner possible.
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