If the adage is true that two heads think better than one then the creative commingling of Louis Vuitton and Comme des Garcons should be something very special. And indeed it is.
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Louis Vuitton caused a stir last year setting up shop inside the LA MoCA during Takashi Murakami’s retrospective. The temporary store within a store (or museum in that case) was clearly a success though because this is what they’ve done again. This time they’ve taken on retail guerrilla masters Comme de Garçons, opening a temporary store within their shop on Kottodori in Tokyo’s Omotesando district.
Kawakubo has redesigned the entire store in honour of Louis Vuitton’s monogram, celebrating the brand’s 30th anniversary in Japan. As well as an installation of the historic trunks in the middle of the store, Kawakubo has designed six one-off bags, inspired by her love of the brand, to be revealed exclusively in W*115, on sale on Thursday 11th September.
More than just an irreverent poke at the brand that made guerrilla cool, it’s the realisation of Comme founder Rei Kawakubo’s dream. The indomitable Kawakubo, one of Wallpaper’s Guest Editors for W*115, speaks of her time in 1978 when as a fledgling designer she witnessed Louis Vuitton’s first store opening in Tokyo. She was astounded by the level of French craftsmanship and historic luxury that she saw in the brand.
Speaking of the collaboration Kawakubo said: ’These are party bags to celebrate the 30 years of Louis Vuitton in Japan. it has been a remarkably exciting opportunity for me to have been able to participate in Louis Vuitton’s traditional design and heritage.’
