The Louis Vuitton Foundation opens on October 27th.
A date has been set, the roof looks (pretty much) finished and it’s time to start moving in the Picassos – Louis Vuitton’s long-awaited arts and culture Foundation will officially open its doors on October 27th in Paris.
As well as permanently housing the LVMH corporate art collection (reported to include works by Damien Hirst, Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko and more) the new space will run a world-class schedule of temporary fine art and fashion exhibitions.
The 126,000 square foot building, set in the Jardin d’Acclimatation, boasts 11 galleries and 12 glass ‘sails’ on ceiling, to flood each hall with natural light. Designed by architect Frank Gehry (one of the creative superstars to collaborate with LV on the limited edition handbag project, ‘The Icons And The Iconoclasts’), the first key exhibition will naturally be devoted to his work.
Louis Vuitton alone has initiated some of the greatest and most commercially successful fashion-art hook-ups in history (think Yayoi Kusama’s spots in 2012, or Takashi Murakami’s new monogram in 2007). But with brands in the LVMH stable including Celine, Kenzo and Givenchy, we see potential here for some of the greatest fashion retrospectives and displays ever.
We dove into the luxury powerhouse’s rich archives and took a second to dream about the fashion masterpieces we’d love to see on display…
Painting: Louis Vuitton x Stephen Sprouse As statuesque as she is, we doubt Edie Campbell would be willing to stand for hours in the buff as the tourists flock in. But, of course Sprouse’s famous graffiti has been peppering LV collections for years - after the luggage line’s sell-out debut in 2001, the style had a neon makeover for its 2007 comeback.
Fine Art: Givenchy’s Couture Archive Audrey Hepburn’s vintage Hollywood costumes, Jackie Kennedy’s vast Euro-trip wardrobes… and that’s before we even mention the modern-day addition of Kimye’s bridal Givench-a-thon. That wealth of pop culture and fashion history needs to go on display.
Sculpture: Nicholas Kirkwood’s Debut Collection Kirkwood’s kicks are modern art forms in their own right. His spring 2005 collection redefined the way we look at shoes, prompting a whole new market for statement, architectural heels.
Alternative Media: The Louis Vuitton Sets The steam train… the escalators! Surely someone has been savvy enough to store up all those mega-sets in a fantasy fashion warehouse? We say now’s the time to whip them all back out and let us finally get a ride on that carousel.
Painting: The Celine SS14 Masterpieces Brushstrokes. In an art gallery. It’s like Phoebe Philo knew this day was coming all along.
