To infinity and beyond. We are lucky enough to have experienced the immersive work of Yayoi Kusama twice. Firstly in 2009 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney with 'Mirrored Years' and then in Shanghai in 2019 with an exhibition of 40 of Kusmama’s works at the epic Fosun Foundation. Both exhibitions were memorable in their scale and the brilliant disorientation that comes from her reflective and fantastical pieces.

The collaboration that has just launched between Yayoi Kusama and Louis Vuitton is equally arresting. This is the second time Kusama has worked with Louis Vuitton, having been invited to collaborate with the house a decade ago when she worked with the previous designer, Marc Jacobs. That collection was hugely popular and an ongoing relationship was forged. Ten years later, the 94 year old Japanese artist has worked across womenswear and menswear, accessories and leather pieces perfecting her signature polka dots: creating infinity. The entirety of the work is significant not only for its cultural art and fashion resonance but for the sheer joie de vivre that it delivers: the bags are “wet” with primary colored polka dots; tailored topcoats are crowded with dots and dresses too; oversized denim jackets and shorts are perfectly plastered. These are things of fashion collectors dreams. It is a proliferation of polka.

We are told that “each incarnation of the polka dots has been presided over by Kusama personally – as have all the many and varied objects in the project – being moved with precision to the nearest millimetre, brushstrokes echoed in uncanny detail with their texture and weight intact.It is in this pursuit of the infinite through craft that both Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama are ultimately united.” We are in, spot on.

The first drop of the Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama collaboration is available to shop now.

louisvuitton.com

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