The 2023 collaboration betwen Yayoi Kusama and Louis Vuitton took New York City by storm to kick off the year. As the seasons changed, spring at the Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama Pop up featured Kusama’s signature polka dots not just on a variety of Louis Vuitton products, including handbags, clothes, shoes, and scarves, but also on LV’s stores in NYC, in shades of green.
All the LV stores were dressed up in Kusama’s iconic dots, and there is also a lifelike Kusama robot at Louis Vuitton’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue that has been quite a showstopper, even for New Yorkers that don’t get fazed or awed by anything.
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Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama Pop Up in the Meatpacking District
The Louis Vuitton and Kusama collaboration in New York features a pop up in the Meatpacking District, which is like a Kusama infinity room except this one features LV products. It makes for a unique retail experience that combines the artistic vision of Kusama with the luxury of Louis Vuitton. The store is designed as a canvas for Kusama’s signature polka dots, which are all over the walls, floors, furniture, and all the LV merchandize. The space is filled with bright colors, mirrored surfaces, and playful shapes, creating a whimsical and immersive environment for shoppers and onlookers alike, as it offers an Instagram friendly space for this social media generation.
The pop up kicked off the collaboration all dressed up in yellow, and in April received a spring makeover to make it full of Kusama’s iconic flowers, which I am a huge fan of.
Location of the Pop Up
The Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama pop-up store is located in the Meatpacking District of New York City, which is a trendy neighborhood known for its high-end fashion boutiques, restaurants, and nightlife. The store is located at 70 Gansevoort Street, just a block away from the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Spring Edition of the Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama pop-up store
The pop-up store showcases the Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama collection in a space that is reflective of Kusama’s infinity rooms, with floor-to-ceiling infinity dots that have made way for greens and yellows in the spring edition.
Winter Edition of the Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama pop-up store
When the pop up was first set up in January 2023, it was a yellow and black color palette that brightened up all the dark winter days in New York City.
Claw Machine at the Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama pop-up
One of the most fun aspects of the pop up is a claw machine in the store, which customers get tokens to use when they make a purchase at this store. This machine is filled with the iconic and very recognizable silver balls that Kusama uses in her installations.
The claw machine was colored yellow and black in keeping with the winter color palette for the pop up, and is now in greens for the spring.
History of Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama Collaboration
Louis Vuitton, a French fashion house that was founded in 1854, is known for its luxury goods, including leather bags, shoes, and accessories. Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese contemporary artist known for her avant-garde art and installations, a number of of which feature her signature dots. In 2012, Louis Vuitton collaborated with Kusama to create a collection of handbags, shoes, and accessories featuring Kusama’s signature polka dots and bold colors. The latest collaboration in 2023 between the two has created a polka dotted universe inside each Louis Vuitton store, and pops up such as the one in the Meatpacking District in New York.
Kusama themed LV Merchandise
All Louis Vuitton stores are offering the Kusama themed items for sale, while in the pop up these are the only items available for sale. This includes a range of accessories, bags, and clothing items that feature Kusama’s signature polka dots. The collection includes a variety of Louis Vuitton’s iconic bags, such as the Speedy, Neverfull, and Keepall, all of which are adorned with Kusama’s dots in various colors and sizes.
In addition to bags, the collection includes a range of accessories, such as scarves, sunglasses, and jewelry, all of which feature Kusama’s polka dots. The clothing items in the collection are also inspired by Kusama’s work, with bold colors and playful patterns that reflect her artistic vision.
The merchandise offered at the pop-up store is exclusive to this collaboration, and is designed to appeal to both Louis Vuitton fans and fans of Kusama’s art by offering a whimsical take on LV’s classic designs in all stores incldung the flagship store on Fifth Avenue.
All in all this collaboration has brought a burst of color to a City that is a fan of dressing in black, and makes for a colorful addition to New York City.
