Louis Vuitton is embracing Y2K nostalgia to kick off the New Year, reintroducing its groundbreaking collaboration with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. The re-edition of the iconic collection, accompanied by a campaign featuring Zendaya, will be available in stores starting January 1.
Murakami and Louis Vuitton’s CEO Pietro Beccari discussed the reunion with WWD, reflecting on their partnership that redefined artist-brand collaborations over 20 years ago. Beccari noted the renewed interest among younger audiences in the early 2000s era, making this the perfect time to relaunch the collection.
The Louis Vuitton x Murakami collection will debut with pop-up events in seven global cities, featuring unique experiences like cafés, cinemas, care stations, and vending machines. Customers who purchase items can win nostalgic prizes such as stickers, Tamagotchis, or trading cards.
Milan will host two branded trams—one with a café and another screening remastered versions of Murakami’s animated shorts Superflat Monogram (2003) and Superflat First Love (2009). Meanwhile, Seoul will feature a full pop-up store with an ice cream shop and photo booth experience.
The collection will be released in two phases, January and March, and includes over 200 items. These range from Louis Vuitton’s signature City Bags to accessories like silk scarves, sunglasses, sneakers, jewelry, perfume bottles, and even a skateboard. Prices start at €90 for a notebook, with the ultimate collector’s piece being a custom wardrobe trunk containing 33 Speedy bags.
Originally launched during Louis Vuitton’s Spring 2003 show under creative director Marc Jacobs, the Monogram Multicolore designs became an instant cultural phenomenon. They were famously worn by celebrities like Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, and Jessica Simpson, as well as featured in the film Mean Girls. The collection generated over $300 million in sales within its first year.
With Y2K nostalgia and a surge in demand for vintage and secondhand pieces, Murakami’s original designs and subsequent collections, like Cherry Blossom and Monogramouflage, remain highly sought after. Beccari acknowledged that the booming resale market and the ongoing popularity of the colorful designs among celebrities and trendsetters inspired the revival.
Japanese Art History à la Takashi Murakami
Meanwhile, Japanese Art History à la Takashi Murakami, an exhibition of new paintings by Murakami will be held at at Gagosian’s Grosvenor Hill gallery in London. In this presentation, the artist pursues his fascination with the narrative of Japanese art by offering his own interpretations of historical paintings. By “Murakamizing” these iconic images, he ponders the erosion of the nation’s ancient splendor; he also considers the ways in which it has been impacted by new aesthetics and values associated with its opening to the West after the end of the Edo period (1603–1868).
Rakuchū-Rakugai-zu Byōbu: Iwasa Matabei RIP (2023–24) is modeled on Iwasa Matabei’s Rakuchū-Rakugai-zu Byōbu (Scenes in and around Kyoto) (Funaki Version) from the collection of the Tokyo National Museum. The original seventeenth-century work depicts the city in extraordinary detail across two six-panel folding screens. Murakami’s version, which was commissioned for his exhibition Mononoke Kyoto at the Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art, populates its gold-leaf clouds with skulls, a memento mori inspired by a visit to the Toribeno burial ground. He also integrates examples of his own iconography including smiling flower-faced figures and his familiar Mr. DOB character.
Murakami’s paintings of the Four Symbols, mythical guardians of Kyoto, pair each of their subjects with metropolitan locations aligned with the four compass directions: the Black Tortoise is associated with Mount Funaoka and Mount Kitayama in the north of the city; the Blue Dragon with the Kamo River in the east; the Vermillion Bird with Ogura Pond in the south; and the White Tiger with the San’indo Highway in the west. To arrive at these juxtapositions, Murakami combined his own sketches with AI-generated images and fragments of his earlier works in a process that parallels the inventiveness of earlier artists in depicting unfamiliar or imaginary creatures.
Venue 20 Grosvenor Hill, London W1K 3QDDate December 10, 2024–March 8, 2025
