TWO YEARS AGO, LVMH executive Delphine Arnault orchestrated a collaboration with Yayoi Kusama that, in Arnault’s words, scripted a “new blueprint for the [Louis Vuitton] brand’s cultural play.” There had been collaborations with artists before, but this endeavor charted new terrain. Under the creative directorship of Ferdinando Verderi, the corporate campaign introduced Kusama to a new global multi platform audience, and helped realize Kusama’s long-held wish—to cover the world with dots.
Every aspect of the collaboration honored the 94-year-old artist’s authorship, from the dots on the editioned Louis Vuitton luxury items, the billboards, and every piece of digital content annotated and populated with her signature orbs and circles. An enormous sculpture of the artist herself was placed on the roof of the Maison Louis Vuitton on the Place Vendôme in Paris. A hyperrealistic animatronic Kusama figure stood painting dots in the store’s window. Not coincidentally, the Kusama collaboration came after Arnault’s father, LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, declared that Louis Vuitton was more than luxury fashion, it was a “cultural brand.” His statement signaled a historic transition in the dynamic between art and fashion.
Dramatic moves into the cultural sphere by global corporations haven’t been happening at LVMH alone. In September, the Pinault family investment company Artémis (holder of luxury brands including Gucci, Balenciaga, and Alexander McQueen) bought a majority stake in Creative Artists Agency. Such congregations of creative industry giants are expanding the criteria for who constitutes the “talent” of the future.
Exchanges between art and fashion have long been seen as transactional in nature, a trade-off between the former’s cultural preeminence and the latter’s broad visibility. But the platforms and audiences for both are evolving into an expansive, accessible,…
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