Louis Vuitton to Release Second Collaboration With Japanese Artist Yayoi Kusama

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Louis Vuitton will release a collection of fashion and accessories in collaboration with Japanese artist
Yayoi Kusama
in January 2023, the  luxury brand announced last week.

A handful of leather goods from the collaboration were premiered at “
Nicolas Ghesquière’s
Cruise 2023” fashion show, which took place earlier in May at the Salk Institute in San Diego, Calif. Ghesquière, 51, is the creative director of the French fashion house.

The 93-year-old Kusama is known for her repetitive use of polka dots, balls, and reflective materials. In 2012, helmed by designer
Marc Jacobs,
Louis Vuitton partnered with Kusama for a collection of dresses, scarves, shoes, and bags. 

The new collection, judging from a small sample at the fashion show at the Salk Institute, has a futuristic look. Colorful dots are seemingly painted on Louis Vuitton leather bags. One of the black bags is dotted with silver balls, in reference to Kusama’s popular work, Narcissus Garden (1966).

Kusama is one of the most commercially successful living contemporary artists in the world. Her paintings and sculptures are widely exhibited in museums and public spaces, while products featuring her art, from cars to purses, are sold worldwide.   

Last week, an early Kusama painting, Untitled (Nets) (1959), sold for US$10.5 million at Phillips in New York, a record price at auction for the artist.

Separately, Louis Vuitton is hosting an exhibition showcasing its Nike Air Force 1 sneakers designed by the late
Virgil Abloh
from now through next Tuesday at Brooklyn’s Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse.

The sneakers were created by Abloh, then men’s artistic director at Louis Vuitton, in partnership with Nike “Air Force 1” for the spring-summer 2022 collection. Abloh died of cancer in November 2021 at age 41.

In February 2022, 200 pairs of the sneakers fetched a total of US$25.3 million at Sotheby’s, with proceeds benefiting a scholarship fund established by Abloh.