At the crossroads of the globes: 7 of fashion brands’ most high-profile collaborations with famous artists

The fashion and art industries are not only interconnected, but also develop, complement and transform each other in common life. Designers often refer to masterpieces of world art, offer collaborations to talented artists, and in return create personalized products and organize real performances.

For more than a month, the entire fashion community has been tirelessly discussing the Louis Vuitton brand collaboration with the famous Yayoi Kusama. During this time, buildings on the Champs-Elysées and Tokyo streets, the windows of the brand’s department stores, and even social media feeds wore the Japanese artist’s branded “stains.” And the collection’s ad campaign featured top stars: from Bella Hadid and Gisele Bündchen to Devon Aoki and Natalia Vodianova. Judging by such a big promotion, the sales will be impressive.

Meanwhile, this collaboration with Yayoi Kusama is not the first for the brand. The artist had already collaborated with Louis Vuitton in 2012, when Marc Jacobs was head of the fashion house.

Today we decided to dive into the archive and take a closer look at the most famous collections created in collaboration with the legends of the art industry.

Schiaparelli x Salvador Dali

Elsa Schiaparelli, the main hooligan of the fashion industry, managed to get ahead of the whole world in this regard. In the 30s of the last century, the legendary designer met the surrealist Salvador Dali, and the era of famous collaborations began. A few years later, the world saw the same dress with a lobster (an homage that can be seen in the brand’s spring-summer 2017 collection), phone bag, hat-shoe and a jacket with handles. a drawer.

Louis Vuitton x Takashi Murakami

In the early 2000s, multi-colored bags with Louis Vuitton monograms were the object of desire of all fashionistas. They were worn by Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and of course the charming princess Paris Hilton. However, not everyone knows that if the brand’s creative director, Marc Jacobs, had not included artist Takashi Murakami in the collaboration, it would not have been one of the main bags of that time. He was the one who reworked the cultural code of Louis Vuitton and also designed the Louis Vuitton boutiques and drew the advertisements.

Louis Vuitton x Richard Prince

Louis Vuitton certainly knows a lot about collaborations (not just with major streetwear brands, but also with representatives of the art industry). So, in 2007, a collection of bags was presented, created together with the artist Richard Prince. We saw the results of the work done at the Louis Vuitton SS2008 fair. Later, models dressed as nurses took the stand and proudly carried the master’s creations. By the way, the bag from a collaboration with Richard Prince last year was walked by the main fan of vintage Bella Hadid.

Louis Vuitton x Jeff Koons

French brand Louis Vuitton holds the record for the number of collaborations with representatives of the art industry. In 2017, the world saw the famous bag collection created by Jeff Koons, one of the world’s most expensive and sought-after artists. He applied reproductions of paintings by Van Gogh, Titian, Rubens and da Vinci to bags, scarves and purses, especially for the fashion house. The collaboration was so popular that six months later the brand decided to repeat the success. Thus, the works of Monet, Manet, Turner, Boucher and Gauguin appeared in accessories.

Alexander McQueen x Damien Hirst

In 2013, the fashion world was shaken by another collaboration. This time the culprits were Alexander McQueen and artist Damien Hirst. Together, they launched a collection of 30 scarves celebrating the 10th anniversary of Alexander McQueen’s iconic skull motif. Hurst, as you know, this topic is very close. In 2007, he created a replica of a human skull encrusted with 8,601 diamonds. And the artist, in collaboration with Alexander McQueen, “painted” the skull using various insects – butterflies, beetles, spiders, creating geometric shapes resembling a kaleidoscope.

Dior Homme x Kaws

In June 2018, Kim Jones presented her first collection for Dior Homme at the Men’s Fashion Week in Paris. And she decided to go with the trumps. The designer invited street art artist Brian Donnelly, better known under the pseudonym KAWS, to collaborate. Especially for the collection, she rethought it by recognizably depicting the bee, the symbol of the brand, with squinting eyes.

Raf Simons x Sterling Ruby

“Many artists are afraid of fashion. Because they think it will spoil their image. I love those who are not afraid. Sterling is the perfect example,” Raf Simons said in an interview with Vanity Fair. We saw the result of his creative duet work for the first time in 2009. Later, artist Sterling Ruby bleached the jeans Simons used to create her capsule collection. Later in 2013, London Fashion Week 2, they came together to present a collaboration code named Raf Simons/Sterling Ruby. Models in jackets, shirts, trousers and coats, which are the artist’s signature, appeared on the runway.