By Manish Mishra
Art forms often inform and inspire each other. It’s not uncommon to see fashion designers often referencing artists’ works while crafting their collections–it could be prints on ready-to-wear pieces or appliques on handbags. This delicious osmosis of different art disciplines makes fashion always exciting. Luxury brands are always looking at creating the next most desirable product. Hence they bring in a visionary artist to infuse unique and unexpected artistic touches to the offerings. How to make a heritage bag which has existed in the Maison’s hallowed archive for decades up-to-the-second chic and relevant? How to add richness and creative imagination to the brand’s imagery? From Spring/Summer to Cruise, from Fall/Winter to Resort–fashion follows a cycle–always churning out the newest and exciting pieces, which clamour for luxury cognoscenti’s elusive attention. Tapping a cool artist who’s able to lend ample gravitas and newness to the collection changes the way the audience perceives the merchandise and also opens doors for new audiences. This mantra has worked wonders for luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, McQueen, Chanel, Dior and Gucci. To break the monotony of the merchandise, creative directors identify an artist or a group of creative thinkers, who resonate with the brand ethos and values and manage to bring in innovation making the offerings fresh and kicky. Louis Vuitton’s recent collaboration being a case in point–where the Maison celebrated its collaboration with Frank Gehry at Art Basel Paris. Beyond his identity as an architect, artist and designer, Frank Gehry is guided in each of his creations by constant experimentation with shapes and materials. The artist himself helped conceive its scenography, revisiting the key elements of his collaboration with Louis Vuitton through an assembly of objects, drawings, and models that he has created for the Maison over an almost 20-year period of collaboration. Here’s the lowdown on some of the noteworthy artistic collaborations forged by luxury brands over the years…
Louis Vuitton Art Silk Squares
Louis Vuitton’s latest collection of silk scarves was designed by five renowned contemporary artists. LV Art Silk Squares saw five artists bring their unique visions to the lustrous blank canvas of the Louis Vuitton silk square–or carré, in French. The creatives–German pixel-art collective, eBoy; Franco-Japanese-Spanish design duo, Icinori; Italian artist and illustrator, Lorenzo Mattotti; French graphic novelist and illustrator, Nicolas de Crécy, and Swiss artist, Thomas Ott – have all previously collaborated with Louis Vuitton, notably on the Maison’s illustrated “Travel Book” series. For LV Art Silk Squares, each explored the theme of the flower within the context of Louis Vuitton. By inventively reinterpreting the four-petal bloom that graces the Louis Vuitton Monogram, the artists brought new perspectives to the Maison’s iconic codes and rich heritage.
Louis Vuitton x Takashi Murakami
Louis Vuitton’s longest-standing collaboration inspired a generation of luxists. In 2003, under the creative directorship of Marc Jacobs, the French fashion house roped in artist Takashi Murakami to reimagine the brand’s classics. The house signature bags including the Speedy and Pochette were reimagined with a multihued monogram and textured with anthropomorphised cherries, and promptly appeared on the arms of the Noughties’ It girls Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. Totally desirable to this day, the bags continue to appreciate in value and fetch a fortune on preloved sites.
Elsa Schiaparelli x Salvador Dalí
Easily one of the most memorable and historically significant creative partnerships between a couturier and a world-renowned artist! The baffling and surreal Salvador Dalí’s Lobster Dress for Elsa Schiaparelli’s 1937 collection has amazed fashion junkies for decades. A one-of-a-kind piece, Schiaparelli donated it to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where it is housed to this day. Crafted from off-white, silk-organza, the dress (which was worn by Wallis Simpson), its crimson waistband, illustrated sprigs of parsley and, most importantly, a giant painted lobster collectively induce an OMG epiphany. Apparently, Dalí wanted to add mayonnaise to the dress but Schiaparelli vetoed the idea, much to his annoyance.
Louis Vuitton Parfums 2024 – Ocean BLVD
In 2024, Louis Vuitton and American multimedia artist Alex Israel unveiled a collaboration around the Cologne Perfumes collection. An unprecedented invitation to a three-dimensional pictorial stroll along an imaginary boulevard in Los Angeles. With its faithful nods to the city’s typical style, this exceptional piece titled “Ocean BLVD” echoed Alex Israel’s 2022 work “Sunset Coast Drive”. Each Cologne was integrated into this wildly creative street scene and took the form of contemporary Californian architecture, including references to his chromatic palette. With this unique creation, the artist captured the West Coast ambience—a free and passionate territory—and celebrated the pop universe of the Colognes. All in all, a scent journey along the California coast, with its lights, extravagances, and softness.
Louis Vuitton x Sun Yitian
On the occasion of Louis Vuitton’s first Voyager Show, which took place on April 18 in Shanghai, the House revealed a vibrant collaboration with artist Sun Yitian. Known for her photorealistic paintings of toys and other mass-produced objects, she collaborated on an exclusive series that colourfully animates the Prefall collection, spanning ready-to-wear, leather goods, trunks, accessories and fragrances. Born in 1991 in Zhejiang, China, Sun Yitian lives and works in Beijing. She has been presented in solo exhibitions at galleries in Paris, Berlin, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Throughout her work, she explores the tension between “Made in China” mass production and artistic value, bringing items that may initially seem unremarkable or of little value into the context of galleries and museums. For her first collaboration with a luxury Maison, her work was further transposed to wearable pieces, introducing the element of savoir-faire. Sun Yitian imagined toy-like animals including a pink rabbit, yellow duck, spotted dog, leopard, zebra, penguin and swan. They interact playfully with iconic and everyday pieces as the latest collectible series in which contemporary artists bring their distinct world to the universe of Louis Vuitton.
Alexander McQueen x Damien Hirst
Given their mutual penchant for skull motifs, Alexander McQueen and Damien Hirst’s scarf collaboration in 2013 seemed like an organic alliance. Two years after Lee McQueen’s unfortunate passing and 10 years after the launch of his iconic skull scarf, the house teamed up with the trailblazing artist to create a collection of 30 limited-edition designs, each featuring adapted work from Hirst’s Entomology series.
Louis Vuitton x Marc Newson
One of the most influential industrial designers of our time, Marc Newson has helped Louis Vuitton reshape the art of travel since 2014. His debut collaboration with the Maison appeared in the “Celebrating Monogram” collection, for which he created “the ultimate contemporary backpack” in bright, playful colours. He has since designed and engineered many Louis Vuitton travel essentials, including the ultra-lightweight Horizon Soft rolling luggage in thermoformed knit, in 2019, and an elegant modernisation of the Pégase suitcase, in 2022.
Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama
Chapter two of LOUIS VUITTON’s partnership with Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama was launched in January 2023. Yayoi Kusama, an icon, born in March 1929, is an avant-garde artist whose perspective is expressed through myriad techniques from sculpture, painting, installation, filmmaking, photography, and happening, to writing in a variety of styles. As a celebration of the Maison’s relationship with the artist and marking the 10th anniversary of the first collaboration, a sneak peek of bags was premiered during the Cruise 2023 fashion show, by Women’s Artistic Director Nicolas Ghesquière.
Chanel x Xavier Veilhan
Chanel joined creative forces with French artist Xavier Veilhan to craft a menagerie of animals as the set design for its Spring 2023 haute couture collection at the Grand Palais Éphémère in Paris. The last in a three-part collaboration with the French luxury house, Veilhan created the animated sculptures—a lion, camel, buffalo, elephant, and many others—to evoke a “parade of animals” in a village festival. “I’m interested in how animals are linked to certain places: towns, folklore, traditions…[so] I suggested a setting that resembled a village fête,” explained the artist. “It’s also an exploration of what our own imaginings can be.”
The 59-year-old artist works in a variety of mediums, including photography and painting. He’s best known for sculptures in his signature angular or jagged style, like that of his cardboard and wood animals for Chanel. Veilhan’s creations have been installed in public spaces around the world, most notably in Miami’s Design District, where he created an homage to Le Corbusier, and at the Palace of Versailles in 2009. Xavier Veilhan represented France at the 2017 Venice Biennale. He transformed the French pavilion into an immersive recording studio, in which he invited professional musicians from around the world to perform for the duration of the Biennale. His collaboration with Chanel came at the request of its Creative Director Virginie Viard—who assumed the role following Karl Lagerfeld’s death in 2019.
KAWS x Dior
Six years after making his debut for Dior Men with a show featuring a 33-foot tall sculpture by KAWS, Kim Jones reunited with the U.S. artist for a capsule collection of menswear. Back in 2018, KAWS made a spectacular statement with his towering figure made of 70,000 flowers. He also worked with Jones on a capsule line featuring his interpretation of the bee, a key symbol of the French fashion house, in the first of a series of artist collaborations that marked the beginning of the designer’s tenure at Dior. For their new project, KAWS zoned in on a snake symbol, which he had woven through with the Dior logo on items including a pale pink varsity jacket, baggy track pants accented with Dior Oblique-patterned stripes, and satiny shirts quilted in the house’s signature cannage pattern. On other items, the reptile forms the CD initials.
Dior X SAGG Napoli
Engaging with powerful female artists from different parts of the world isn’t new for Dior’s womenswear Artistic Director Maria Grazia Chiuri and for Dior Spring/Summer 2025, she revealed an art project specially conceived and conceptualised by SAGG Napoli–a multidisciplinary artist working with performance, video, sculpture and installation. The Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024, may have emphasised gender equality, inclusivity and respect. Still, Chiuri has been championing all these values since her Spring Summer 17 collection, which was a haute homage to female fencers. For the Dior SS ’25 showcase, she asked SAGG Napoli to perform in the catwalk space. “May the building of a strong mind and a strong body be the greatest work I have ever made” was one of the symbolic phrases on the set.
Ignasi Monreal x Gucci
Alchemising a classical art background with digital finesse, Ignasi Monreal’s illustrations dwell on ancient, contemporary and sometimes completely surreal themes at once. The artist’s creative collaboration began with the first #GucciGram project in 2015, the GG Caleido and GG Blooms designs in the backdrop of a retro TV weather forecaster and commercial. These original illustrations later appeared as prints on T-shirts in the Cruise 2018 show held at Pitti Palace in Florence. Soon after, the Gucci Art Walls on New York’s Lafayette Street, and in Largo La Foppa, Milan, were painted with Ignasi Monreal’s design for Alessandro Michele’s first women’s fragrance Gucci Bloom. For the holidays, Ignasi dreamed up a campaign of gods and titans. Illustrated entirely by him, Gucci Gift 2017 featured Greek mythology, alchemic codes and real places. Synergic with the house’s eclectic narrative, for the Spring Summer 2018 campaign, Gucci Hallucination, the artist imagined paintings that feature imagery from classic works—including Ophelia (1852) by John Everett Millais—with characters dressed in the collection’s colourful and printed designs. He also starred in the campaign’s ironic video as the curator of a fictitious Gucci gallery.
Gucci x Unskilled Worker
After being gifted one of Helen Downie’s illustrations, Gucci’s then Creative Director Alessandro Michele invited the artist–best known by her Instagram moniker, Unskilled Artist–to collaborate on a 40-piece capsule collection in 2017. The British painter’s distinctive, wide-eyed characters appeared on bags, dresses, scarves, and more.
Prada x Elmgreen & Dragset
Trust Miuccia Prada to always think out of the box and have the fashion set sit up and take note. Picture this: a boutique filled with early aughts Prada collectibles that are permanently closed taking the shape of a sculptural art installation. Artists Elmgreen and Dragset embarked on this artistic adventure creating a non-functioning Prada boutique featuring shoes and bags from Prada’s Autumn/Winter 2005 collection–which was erected in 2005 along U.S. Route 90 in Texas.
Stella McCartney x Yoshitomo Nara
‘We are punks,’ declared bags, knits and T-shirts from Stella McCartney’s 2021 capsule with Japanese neo-pop artist, Yoshitomo Nara. The unisex collection is rooted for nonconformity, resistance and rebellion, via Nara’s cute-yet-sinister, cherubine children and defiant slogans, written unapologetically large upon totes, tees and hoodies.
Louis Vuitton x Richard Prince
Marc Jacobs was on a trip to the Guggenheim in 2007 to see Richard Prince’s Spiritual America exhibition. This experience inspired the then-Creative Director at Louis Vuitton to collaborate with the artist. The house’s Spring/Summer 2008 show featured 12 iconic supermodels wearing translucent nurse uniforms (a tribute to Prince’s famous Nurse paintings) and–somewhat prophetically–lace face masks, as well as bags embossed with artwork from Prince’s Jokes series.
Louis Vuitton x Zaha Hadid
Easily one of Louis Vuitton’s noteworthy collabs! The French luxury trunk maker collaborated with the renowned Zaha Hadid to reinterpret the iconic LV Bucket bag, showcasing the brand’s unique approach to design within the luxury fashion realm. The partnership resulted in the creation of a new litany of bags, including a pochette and clutch, each characterised by Hadid’s signature techniques of extrusion and distortion, blurring the lines between fashion and architectural design. The redesigned pieces were prominently featured in the ‘Louis Vuitton X’ exhibition in Los Angeles, an event that celebrated the rich history and innovative future of the fashion house, displaying over 180 items from the LV archives alongside works of other illustrious artists and designers like Karl Lagerfeld and Frank Gehry. Hadid’s reimagining not only offered a tribute to the original design’s utility but also introduced a modular aspect, allowing components to be rearranged for various occasions, embodying the fusion of utilitarian chic and avant-garde design.
Rei Kawakubo x Merce Cunningham
As the Creative Director of Comme des Garçons, Rei Kawakubo has always pushed the envelope when it came to his singular artistic designs and distinctive design acumen. Her designs are a sublime symbiosis between fashion and the arts. In 1997, Kawakubo collaborated with choreographer Merce Cunningham on the dance Scenario. It was a first for both: Cunningham had never collaborated with a fashion designer and Kawakubo had never created costumes for dance or theatre. Inspired by Cunningham, Rei created the groundbreaking ‘Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body’ Summer/Spring collection in 1997. A visually arresting interplay of contemporary dance and avant-garde fashion that reimagines the body.
Loewe x Studio Ghibli
The sublime coming together of Loewe and Japanese animation company–Studio Ghibli remains one of the remarkable collabs. Iconic films My Neighbour Totoro and Spirited Away served as inspiration for the 2021 and 2022 capsules, respectively. Loewe’s signature Puzzle bag was recontextualised with a smattering of Susuwatari (the studio’s mischievous Sootsprites), while T-shirts and hoodies were illustrated with fantastical scenes from the films.
Artist Cassius Hirst X Prada
In 2022, cutting-edge artist Cassius Hirst partnered with Prada Linea Rossa to reimagine their iconic America’s Cup sneaker in a limited edition range of special pieces, each pair totally unique with labels featuring the artist’s distinct signature. The co-branded Prada box was hallmarked by the Cassius Hirst logo – a scan of his brain, a symbol which holds significant meaning for Cass.