Louis Vuitton X Jeff Koons: The Masters Collection

Kitsch, pop, commercial, a masterpiece; call it as you like, the new Louis Vuitton ‘Masters’ collection in collaboration with the king of Neo-pop Art is here.

Jeff Koons remixes -in his own eccentric way- iconic works of art, from Da Vinci to Van Gogh into fashion must-haves. His artistic aim behind this cultural product? Celebrate our humanity following Oscar Wilde’s words: ‘one should either be a work of art or wear a work of art’.

For Koons connoisseurs the inspiration for the bags came from his Gazing Ball series where metallic spheres are placed at the centre of the perspectival system of old-master’s paintings. This could be the way to bring new interpretations to masterpieces but also to bring those ‘dusty’ canvases back to popular culture

The leather of the bags is a ‘canvas’ on which the masterpieces are printed. The electric blue spheres of the Gazing Ball series are replaced by mirror effect letters spelling the names of the artists. Koons further adds his own imprint with a miniature of the ‘Rabbit’ and his initials spelled as Vuitton’s trademark. Finally, in the inside of each bag is written, one the one side the Master’s biography and on the other Koons’s ; uniting the artists of the past and the present.

However, despite the play on materials and bright colors of this wearable pop art like art, its saccharine sensation has created mixed feelings.

Is this collection part of the high-art arena or the epitome of kitsch? A nod to the art world from CEO and art lover of Louis Vuitton Bernard Arnault? Or simply a marketing strategy to make the bags commercially desirable by flattening their value?

Business-wise Louis Vuitton might be attempting to attract a younger, fresher and artsy clientele. On the other hand, these extravagant bags might melt the hearts of more mature Vuitton enthusiasts who count more than one iconic bag in their closet.

Jeff Koons successfully reminds us the sometimes forgotten link between art and fashion. Masterpieces or failed attempts to art creation the bags of the ‘Masters’ collection are FOR art in the sense that they bring back to the spotlight gems of the past.