Louis Vuitton condom

By Irakli Kiziria, architect and artist. To F*ck with style !

Haute-Food: artist Fulvio Bonavia and former Vogue editor Giovanna Battaglia collaboration

This creative combo paid tribute to Prada, LV, Moncler and McQueen with the recreation of iconic dresses in ... food for the next issue of Garage magazine! It looks good and yummy !

Art is Fashion is Art is... my latest article for Vernissage Magazine

 ART IS FASHION IS ART IS…

Fashion has always turned to the arts for inspiration, while the arts have always loved the fashion world for its avant-gardism. But who benefits the most from this relationship?

The finale of Louis Vuitton’s Spring / Summer 2008 collection by Marc Jacobs featured Richard Prince-inspired nurses cat walking with bags displaying sarcastic sentences from Prince’s trademark. Marc Jacobs’s stunt is still considered as a crucial moment for the fashion and art worlds as it blurred further the frontier between the two disciplines. The collection echoes that of Yves Saint Laurent who in 1965 drew inspiration from Mondrian’s minimalism and designed a dress which is in every fashion enthusiast’s mind. Both have always been interconnected. Shumon Basar, Writer and Chair of the Global Art Forum at the Middle Eastern art fair Art Dubai, who, this year, presented a series of talks and presentations entitled “Fascination: When Art Met Fashion” said about this relationship: “There are many relationships, but perhaps the most potent, and recurrent, are that of mutual admiration and envy. Some areas of the contemporary art-world envy the fashion world's general air of effortless glamour (see Artforum's web-blog 'Scene & Herd': it's the fashion-socialites' sport of people and outfit spotting applied to art world. Art is what happens behind the champagne and expensive haircuts). Conversely the fashion world enjoys brushing up with the so-called 'intelligence' of contemporary art. It's a different kind of glamour. The thing that often glues the two worlds together is rich people who enjoy dipping into both.”

The examples of fashion designers who took inspiration from the arts for their collections are numerous: whether it’s Jean-Paul Gaultier’s Spring / Summer 2010 Haute Couture collection inspired by the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, or Jean-Charles de Castelbajac’s everlasting love for pop art – he collaborated in the 80’s with the artists Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat and gave a tribute to Leonardo da Vinci and Ingres in his 1992’s collection.  John Galliano’s 1999 Spring / Summer ready-to-wear Dior collection featured his interpretation of the “Black square” painting by Malevich, and more recently Oscar de la Renta illustrated his latest 2012 Resort collection with Picasso-inspired patchworks. The list of creative collaborations or “artistic borrowings” is long: Sergio Rossi designer Francesco Russo used 1970’s conceptual artist Claude Viallat’s paintings for his latest boots and bags collection; Rochas designer Marco Zanini visited his mother’s hometown in Sweden to take inspiration from the work of local artist Slotts Barbro; Hermès collaborated in 2011 with French artist Daniel Buren who used his photo archive to create 365 striking patterns for scarves; Shoemaker Bally, who commissions an artist each year to produce capsule collections, is working with Swiss artist Philippe Decrauzat this year; in April 2011 Nicholas Kirkwood released a shoe collection inspired by Keith Haring’s comics; the artist Damien Hirst’s partner Maia Forman, a fashion designer in her own rights, turned to Jim Lambie for her latest collection following previous collaborations with contemporary artists Mat Collishaw and Carsten Höller. “There was the 'Double Club' by artist Carsten Hoeller and commissioned by Fondazione Prada. It was a schizophrenic bar/club/restaurant in London that for 6 months and became a much loved hang-out for the well heeled from both the fashion and art worlds. A dual-regional food menu was provided by Sketch. The Double Club broke out of the gallery and became an actual place. The other way around, fashion houses have been asking artists and film-makers to produce short films or adverts. There's been Missoni and Kenneth Anger, Gucci and Chris Cunningham, and before that, they worked with David Lynch.” adds Shumon Basar. 

 JC/DC

As a result of this mix of disciplines, both figures - of fashion designer and contemporary artist - are blurred. Most of the biggest fashion designers have attended art schools by the way: Christian Lacroix attended L’Ecole du Louvre in Paris, the Dutch duo Viktor&Rolf graduated from the Arnhem Academy of Art and Design in The Netherlands, Hussein Chalayan or Alexander McQueen both attended the Central St Martins College of Art and Design of London, probably the best art school in the world. These fashion designers have always mastered the mix between fashion and art, have often been described as contemporary artists and all had solo-shows in Museums: Christian Lacroix enjoyed a retrospective at the Réattu Museum of Art in the French city where he was born, Arles, Viktor&Rolf’s works were exhibited at the Barbican Gallery of London in 2008, Hussein Chalayan’s at the Design Museum of London in 2009 and Alexander McQueen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York in 2011. Interestingly, US Vogue Editor Anna Wintour, has been promoted from honorary member to elective trustee making her a voting member of the board of the MET. This recognizes the fundraising effort she accomplished for the museum for years. Coming up is Marc Jacobs retrospective at Le Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, which will look at the designer's work for Louis Vuitton since he took over the creative reigns in 1999. This exhibition is said to open in 2012.  

 Alexander McQueen at the MET

Fashion designers often use the multiple ways of expressions of a contemporary artist in order to increase the means to sell or present their collections resulting in a translation from the fashion designer posture to being considered by experts as artists themselves: Karl Lagerfeld is a protean designer who handles the fashion and interior design of fashion houses Chanel and Fendi as well as the advertising campaigns of these brands. He’s a photographer in his own right and had several gallery shows. Another example includes the former Dior Homme Artistic Director Hedi Slimane who converted into a famous photographer. 

 Karl Lagerfeld and Hedi Slimane

Throughout the world, fashion is increasingly mixed with the museum world and the number of fashion exhibitions in art museums is inevitably growing, proving once again that fashion and art are inevitably merging into one discipline one would call “art and craft”: "Cubism and Fashion" at the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 1999, "L´Homme Paré" at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 2005, “Chanel”, a retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 2005, "New York Fashion Now " and "The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947-1957” at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London in 2007 are a few examples.

Both fashion designers and artists yearn for freedom of expression but the big difference is that fashion designers often can’t step away from the brand they represent and from the brief their marketing teams impose on them. A brief that comes from market research companies who pre-empt what the consumers want.  Artists therefore seem to enjoy more freedom of expression. In 2011, Nadia Plesner, Danish artist was taken to court for copyright infringement by Louis Vuitton for the image of an emaciated child holding one of their distinctive patterned handbags in her painting called "Darfurnica". This bag was initially commissioned to the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami who re-interpreted the famous LV monogram. A European court ruled in favour of Plesner stating that "the freedom of expression through her work outweighs the protection of property of Vuitton. The brand has been ordered to pay for the artist's legal costs. This also indicates that however nourishing fashion can be for the contemporary artist, this inspiration is often used to mock it. In 1990, the French artist Sylvie Fleury exhibited at the Lausanne-based Rivolta Gallery bronze-made Chanel, Gucci, Kenzo etc. bags. Her work was meant to focus on the concept of a bag as an object, rather than the luxury image conveyed by it. Ironically in 2006 Marc Jacobs reinterpreted these artworks by designing a “Keepall model”, a metallic grey bag  directly inspired by Fleury’s work.

 Sylvie Fleury - Hermès bag

Louis Vuitton

More than any other fashion houses, Louis Vuitton has always pioneered in promoting the thriving relationship between art and fashion, as it soon understood the positive marketing effects it could have on its business strategy. Fashion can’t be disassociated from the inherent commercial needs. In an interview in the 2011 March / April issue of the art magazine Flash International, Yves Carcelle, CEO of Louis Vuitton explains that “the connection with contemporary art dates back to Louis Vuitton himself, who was a personal friend of Claude Monet. This interaction with artists flourished again in the 80’s, when the company started working with artists such as César, Sol Le Witt and Olivier Debré. When Marc Jacobs joined the house as artistic director in 1997, his own passion for contemporary art turned this into an even greater source of inspiration for the house, giving rise to the now-iconic collaborations with the late Stephen Sprouse, Takashi Murakami, and Richard Prince” as stated before. Other artists such as Olafur Eliasson, Alyson Shotz, Zhan Wang, Michael Lin, Steven Shearer and Xavier Veilhan have created installations for display in the House’s windows.” Last year, the company launched a three-year long support programme for emerging artists in conjunction with five leading London art institutions. The Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation is scheduled to open in 2013 in Paris featuring temporary exhibitions alongside the permanent collection. And it’s not the only Fashion Foundation which supports the arts: the Cartier Foundation, the Hermès Galleries, the Prada Foundation are other examples which prove that beyond fashion, the luxury sector significantly supports the arts and the artists, often through sponsoring.  And as a matter of fact, this is not for free but rather for marketing, political or tax reduction purposes. Shumon Basaar adds: “I find Louis Vuitton's teaming up with Murakami and Richard Prince too crudely about the brand-value of those artists, even though commercially, they've been extremely successful luxury products.”

 

Answering the question of which sector benefits more than the other is then rather difficult and probably impossible to find. At least it’s not about to end tomorrow. Asked to conclude about it, Shumon Basar confirms: “it’s hard to measure. But one practical benefit has been the establishment of art-centres by fashion houses, such as Cartier in Paris, Prada in Milan and Hermès in Tokyo. They've often sought to help produce new works, thus act as commissioners. More prosaically, fashion houses often sponsor major art exhibitions - and this counts for something in an age where public funding diminishes or is negligible and private money is crucial. Of course, everyone 'benefits' from fashion hosted parties.”

 
Also found here: http://vernissage.tv/blog/2011/06/13/vernissagetv-pdf-magazine-no-17/

Louis Vuitton Voyages - Beijing

Inside the "Louis Vuitton Voyages" Exhibition at the National Museum of China in Beijing - From May 31st to August 30th. These are beautiful pictures by Luc Castel for Louis Vuitton.

Marc Jacobs exhibition at Musée des Arts Déco in Paris - another LV's sponsored exhibition?

It is reported that Marc Jacobs is set to have a new exhibition at Les Arts Décoratifs in Paris, which will look at the designer's work for Louis Vuitton since he took over the creative reigns in 1997.

The display will also pay tribute to the iconic fashion house's eponymous designer, who started out his career as a trunkmaker in 1854. The museum's curator plans to showcase two different periods in the label's history - the industrial revolution of the 19th Century and the globalisation of contemporary fashion. Is that another LV's sponsored exhibition to support their marketing efforts? I wonder...

Louis Vuitton F/W 11-12 Details

Louis Vuitton's honey inspired installation

Passing in front of the LV shop of Barcelona, I noticed the beautiful window display. "As Sweet as Honey", Louis Vuitton shop windows feature bags and shoes dripping with honey and it looks as if inspired by Dali.

These installations are also surrounded by bees, which highlights the global need for sustainable development, of which nectar and pollen gathering insects play an important role.

The campaign has been in the works since 2009 when three beehives were installed on the roof of the Louis Vuitton headquarters in Paris.

Throughout 2010 more than 200,000 bees gathered 75kg of nectar, from which the golden honey was produced...

Kate Moss smoking at the last LV's show

To the contrary of what some websites say, the last time Kate Moss modelled was in 2008 for "House of the Blue Eyes"... She rocked the catwalk last week at the LV's show and she was even seen smoking!  Oh my god!

Louis Vuitton's exhibition at the Museum Carnavalet in Paris

Louis Vuitton stages an exhibition at Carnavalet, the most Parisian of the capital's museums until 27 February 2011.

Around the iconic trunks and luggages brought together for the first time, the Carnavalet  museum showcases the saga of the fashion house and Vuitton family, which has embodied the art of travel for more than 150 years. The visitors will discover the treasures of Louis Vuitton’s heritage collections, juxtaposed with works from the museum’s collections or on loan from The National Library of France, The Decorative Arts or the City of Paris Historical library, situating the famous trunkmaker in the capital’s artistic and cultural history.

But isn't it another marketing coup? How much has the luxury house paid the Museum to be able to organise this exhibition?

If you have further details, I'd like to hear them... Anyway I've got great respect for the brand and the initiatives taken to showcase / sponsor the arts so I'd like to see this exhibition.

More info on: http://www.carnavalet.paris.fr/  and http://www.louisvuitton.com/

Image from: http://www.ilvoelv.com/

Louis Vuitton: men's bag

I love this sense of humour

Louis Vuitton Autumn/Winter 2010 collection - details

“Vienna’s Wiener Werkstätte in the early 20th century attracted a community of artists including Franz Kafka and Egon Schiele with their own creative way of mixing business and leisure style. For Louis Vuitton’s Fall-Winter 2010-2011 collection, Men’s Studio Director Paul Helbers, under the Artistic Direction of Marc Jacobs, is inspired by this ‘Bleisure’ lifestyle, a mix of formality and comfort inspired by Vienna’s ‘artist wardrobe.’”

I just love it,  it's such a beautiful object.

Louis Vuitton presents "Super Flat First Love" by Takashi Murakami

Madonna for Louis Vuitton round 2

Marc Jacobs was so pleased with this spring’s Louis Vuitton campaign featuring Madonna that he was eager to do an encore. 'But very quickly Marc said, ‘I want something completely different,’' related Antoine Arnault, Vuitton’s communication director. The new ingredients included a dash of Tamara de Lempicka and a soupçon of Man Ray for color-drenched images by Steven Meisel with a surreal edge, thanks to generous use of solarization, a technique of overexposure first perfected by Ray.

Here is the result.

To learn more: http://www.louisvuitton.com/

Marc Jacobs multiplies collaborations with artists

After striking the pause with her father for the the Summer 2008 campaign - photoshoot signed by Annie Leibovitz - Sofia Coppola will be designing bags and shoes for Louis Vuitton.


"It's been a fantastic experience to design exactly what I wanted" she said about her work for the fashion house. The collection will be available in store on 9 March 2009. We knew that Marc Jacobs was a close friend of Sofia, having featured her in her Marc Jacobs campaign but it seems like Marc can't separate his work from collaborations with other artists whether Madonna or Stephen Sprouse.


In 2001 Stephen Sprouse collaborated with Vuitton for an accessories line. The Artistic Director used the famous Sprouse graffiti and declined it in green, pink and orange on shoes, bags and clothes. These products were available in store in January 2009 and were specifically launched to coincide with the New York retrospective on the arts of 80's entitled "Rock on Mars" as well "The Stephen Sprouse Book". On 15 Decembre, Louis Vuitton also launched welovesprouse.com, which showcases interviews of artists the artist worked with, such as Debbie Harry, Candy Pratts Price or Patricia Field.



To learn more: http://www.louisvuitton.com/

Madonna strikes a pose for Louis Vuitton

From the Times Online

January 3, 2009

"This was really different," explains Antoine Arnault, communications director of Louis Vuitton, when asked how Madonna came to front the company's new spring/summer campaign. "Usually, these things take much, much longer," he explains; a lengthy process of identifying the right person to embody the fashion and luxury-goods brand, the right photographer, the right look for the campaign, plus, of course, all the deal-making a project like this involves. This time, however, pretty much everything was agreed inside a week.

"On the Monday," Arnault recalls, "we had a meeting, and Marc Jacobs suggested Madonna. I thought, yes, great idea, but it will never happen. Then, in the meeting, Marc sent her a text saying, ‘Love, would you like to be the new Louis Vuitton woman?' Five minutes later, she'd replied. He showed me his phone, and she'd said, ‘Yes, I'd love to do it.'" What could be simpler ?

Clearly, when a big brand like Louis Vuitton chooses a new face for its campaign, it's not just a matter of affectionate text messages between Marc Jacobs and Madonna. Men like Louis Vuitton's CEO, Yves Carcelle, have to agree that it is a good idea, not a whim, as well as, of course, Carcelle's boss and Antoine Arnault's father, Bernard Arnault, head of the LVMH luxury-goods empire.

But as Antoine Arnault sees it, "Marc knows the brand probably better than anyone now," having been artistic director for a decade, during which time Louis Vuitton has expanded massively. Jacobs had seen Madonna in concert the week before, but it wasn't some "let's be crazy" decision, Arnault explains, citing how Jacobs had previously picked J-Lo as the face of Louis Vuitton in 2003. "That wasn't an obvious choice, perhaps, but it instantly put us on the top in the US in one campaign.



"Madonna is glamorous," Arnault continues. "She has a global image. She's the ultimate performer and businesswoman, and not someone who is just a famous singer. She has travelled; she has tried to change things." And if her personal life isn't perfect right now, "Well, that only makes her more human." Once the proposal had been made, and provisionally accepted, in both cases by text, "Then we had to agree on a figure, a concept, a photographer." Yet the whole process seems to have been plain sailing – an object lesson, if you like, in the degree of certainty that people at the top of the fashion industry tend to display about their creative choices.

The figure? Well, just how much Madonna is being paid for what is, in a sense, both one day's work and the product of many years at the top of her game is a moot point. Some have claimed it's $10 million (£6.6 million). But Arnault is careful to puncture that, saying, "The figure is really, really lower than that. In times like these, it would be totally irresponsible to pay anyone $10 million."



The concept? Madonna has been photographed in a nostalgic, Parisian bistro setting, perhaps at that "waiters whistling as the last bar closes" moment in the early hours. "Only it's in LA," Arnault quips, not Paris - "One of those French bistros in California where you really think you're in France" - and it's daytime and there are hundreds of paparazzi outside. Madonna smoulders quietly, all fishnets and high kicks, with a glamour that gives more than a nod to Dietrich, long an acknowledged influence. She's wearing Marc Jacobs' ready-to-wear clothes for Louis Vuitton, styled by Marie-Amélie Sauvé, with, of course, due prominence given to some lovely bags and shoes, those accessories that have long been such steady earners for the brand.

But there is a certain quietness to the images, a kind of gentleness, perhaps, which might also (along with that willingly professed prudence over Madonna's fee) be a sign of the extraordinary times we live in. Certainly, when I put it to Arnault that the crunch might be changing the aesthetic and that, in particular, a certain kind of flash advertising message now looks passé, even wrong somehow, he doesn't exactly demur. "Other people can try to rationalise every campaign, but there is certainly a feeling that emerges from designers, photographers, creatives of all kinds, which is maybe something they don't talk about, but which they can feel."

The photographer in question here is Steven Meisel, rather than Mert and Marcus, who have shot all of Louis Vuitton's campaigns since 2002, including those amazingly effective shots of J-Lo. "We were very happy with them," Arnault insists, but all good things come to an end – and, after all, it was Meisel who photographed the wilder, younger, more in-your-face Madonna who leapt off the pages of Sex, the book which caused such a storm back in 1992. So this campaign can be seen as something of a reunion, Meisel additionally having photographed Madonna for Vanity Fair late last year. Jacobs and Meisel are old friends, too, Arnault explains, "from the crazy years of the Eighties".



And once Antoine Arnault had assembled his dream team? "I think the three of them were in touch with each other on the phone almost every day," he says of the run-up to the shoot, “talking about ideas, sharing references, then talking about individual shots." On the big day itself, "About 50 people were on the set, which sounds like a lot, but it's all in the preparation, in the make-up and the set and so on. Once that was in place, Madonna would come out, get into position, and the shots went amazingly quickly, sometimes in about 15 minutes. It was a delight."

Takashi Murakami Makes "Time"'s Most Influential People List

"From Artinfo.com :

Takashi Murakami Makes "Time's" Most Influential People List

NEW YORK—The Japanese post-Pop sensation Takashi Murakami has made Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People list for 2008, the only visual artist to do so.

Marc Jacobs, artistic director of the French design house Louis Vuitton, with whom Murakami has collaborated over several years, prompting discussions in the art world about the boundaries between art and commerce, contributed a short essay on the artist. He writes: "When I first saw Takashi Murakami's work, I smiled and wondered, Where did this explosion come from? Who was responsible for this collision of psychedelia, manga and, well, art? Then I thought, I would love it if the mind that imagined this dizzying world of jellyfish eyes, singing moss, magic mushrooms and morphing creatures would be willing to have a go at the iconic Louis Vuitton monogram."

The collaboration "has been and continues to be a monumental marriage of art and commerce," writes Jacobs, "one for both the fashion and art history books."Artists previously named in Time's list include Kara Walker in 2007, Kiki Smith in 2006, and Bruce Nauman in 2004. A retrospective of Murakami's work is currently on view at the Brooklyn Museum, through July 13.Architect Rem Koolhaas was also named to this year's list."

The Brooklyn Museum is absolutely stunning and if you have chance to go to see this exhibition, go for it !

to learn more:

www.louisvuitton.com/

www.takashimurakami.com

Just for the love of it: Takashi Murakami for Louis Vuitton

To learn more: www.takashimurakami.com

Vuitton news again: Keith Richards is the new ad campaign's face

After Catherine Deneuve and Mikhaïl Gorbatchev, it is Keith Richards who will be representing Louis Vuitton.

Shot by Annie Leibovitz, this new campaign shows the guitarist in a classy hotel room. "Some journeys cannot be put into words. New York. 3 am. Blues in C" is the new slogan for this rock'n'roll campaign that we are not quite accustomed for LV. Published in April in the press, all the profits from this campaign will be offered to the association of Al Gore, The Climate Project.

To learn more: www.louisvuitton.com

Orients sans frontières at l'Espace Louis Vuitton in Paris

Malekeh Nayiny (Iran).

Exhibition from 8 February to 27 April 2008

It is the seventh exhibition held at L'Espace Vuitton. Inspired by the mythic trip initiated by André Citroën in 1931: the yellow cruise, this exhibition is curated by Hervé Mikaeloff.

The caterpillars cars equipped with Louis Vuitton luggages embarked on the road of silk, linking Beirut to Beijing. The leadership of this trip was given to Marie-Georges Haardt and Louis Audouin-Dubreuil. Together, they went on a trip to visit Beirut and Damascus, Baghdad, Tehran, Kabul, Peschawaru, Srinagar, Gilgit, Ouroumsti, Sou-Tchéou, Liang-Tcheou and Beijing. This raid also remains a technical, scientific and cultural adventure.

L'Espace Louis Vuitton gives contemporary artists from different towns and villages of this journey, the opportunity to reinterpret it.

The interest no longer lies in moving from city to city but in the commitment and knowledge of their country. Artists along the route become actors of this challenge by questioning their geographical territory and humanity. These photographers, videographers and visual artists offer a new map of the Middle Eastern region. Surely an exhibition not to miss.

To learn more: www.louisvuitton.com/