Yayoi Kusama is a legendary artists whose infinity rooms make her work so much larger than life. In 2023, the Yayoi Kusama and Louis Vuitton collaboration has managed to flip the script and actually make her larger than life, quite literally. Kusama is featured on the building of the Louis Vuitton store in NYC painting her signature dots to celebrate the holiday season.
Kusama at the Louis Vuitton Flagship Store on Fifth Avenue
These days Kusama can be found painting her signature polka dots on the Louis Vuitton flagship store on Fifth Avenue by day and by night, because that is how often I have been walking past the store to take this all in –
As if this 10+ storey rendition of Kusama is not enough, the creative powers that be at Louis Vuitton have a lifesize rendition of her in the store windows painting polka dots as well, only this one is so realistic that passersby do a double take to check if there was a real person in there – or not.
The store windows have turned all dotty in keeping with this collaboration with Kusama.
The inside of the LV flagship store on Fifth Avenue is all about the dots.
Even the sidewalk in front of the store was looking all dotty with large polka dots on the sidewalk outside the store.
Louis Vuitton and Kusama Pop Up in the Meatpacking District
Louis Vuitton also has a pop up for this Louis Vuitton and Kusama collaboration in the Meatpacking District, so of course I had to make my way there after work. The pop up was quite literally a Kusama infinity room, with LV products including bags, shoes, clothes and accessories such as scarves featured inside. It was quite amazing to soak it all in.
The cash register was all dressed up in polka dots as well, and so was the claw machine that had Kusama’s signature silver balls inside. Yes, the claw machine was a working one, and could be activated with tokens that were given based on purchases made at the Louis Vuitton pop up.
Kusama at Louis Vuitton Stores in New York
All the other Louis Vuitton stores are all dressed to match for this Kusama collaboration, though the colors all vary by store. Here are a couple that I have had a chance to check out below. This was the Louis Vuitton section at Bloomingdales –
The Louis Vuitton products pale in the shadow of Kusama’s work, though the campaigns with all the supermodels are very striking.
And here is Hudson Yards –
Cosmic Nature by Yayoi Kusama at the New York Botanical Garden
The last time I ran into Kusama was at the New York Botanical Garden, where she had an exhibition called Cosmic Nature. I loved it so much that I became a NYBG Member for it, and took all my friends to see it over multiple weekends in 2021. Here are some of my pictures from that exhibition, though photographs were not allowed in the indoor infinity exhibit.
This was a really fun room at the NYBG where everyone got a flower sticker going in, and you could put it absolutely anywhere you wanted in this room.
I missed the first collaboration between LV and Kusama in 2012 in NYC, so I am happy to have made up for it this time around. And it is amazing to have experienced so much of Kusama’s work on the streets of New York without needing to step foot in any museum.
