Get An Immersive Crash Course On Louis Vuitton At This Exhibition
Heading to Sydney? Catch highlights from Louis Vuitton’s archives at the See LV exhibition Down Under.
Following stops in Wuhan and Hangzhou in China, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Tokyo, Japan, Louis Vuitton's See LV travelling exhibition – inaugurated in 2020 – has arrived in Sydney for its only stop in the region.
Until Dec 11, those heading to Sydney can experience the free exhibition for themselves. Its blue and white set-up is hard to miss, fashioned like a giant QR code and sited next to the Museum of Contemporary Art along the city’s popular Circular Quay.
The space may be compact but the showcase offers an immersive crash course on Louis Vuitton. Organised through five universes, it takes visitors on a whirlwind trip through LV’s expansive history, dating back to the 19th century when it first began as a trunk maker.
Visitors will be first greeted to See LV with an AI-created portrait of Louis Vuitton by Turkish digital artist Refik Anadol.
Upon entering, visitors are greeted by a digital portrait of a young Louis Vuitton, created by Turkish digital artist Refik Anadol using artificial intelligence. The countenance of the 20-year-old founder of the house appears gradually, formed by one million images illustrating the Jura region of France, where he was born 200 years ago in 1821.
In the next room, In Fashion spotlights iconic looks from LV’s fashion universe. The brand’s fashion department was established in 1995, although its fashion roots are said to have started as early as 1854, when Vuitton began packing his clients’ haute couture garments in trunks. Special tribute is paid to the house’s creative talents through the years, showcasing the first and last looks from past and present artistic directors Nicolas Ghesquiere, the late Virgil Abloh, and Kim Jones and Marc Jacobs before them.
Then comes the bag wall – a highlight for anyone who loves his or her luxury purses. A study of the brand’s most recognisable silhouettes, Bag Stories also offers a taste of LV’s penchant for collaborating with cultural icons through the years – from Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama to Italian design atelier Fornasetti.
The wall of dreams at See LV for any bag collector.
One bag of note is the Steamer Bag, a one-handled contraption originally created for use on cruise-liners as a spare bag to store dirty linen for weeks-long voyages. Over the years, form preceded functionality and it morphed into a key shape for the house.
The theme of travel flows into the Evolution Gallery, where past and present are juxtaposed to show LV’s omnipresence throughout every transport revolution. Here, an unexpected assemblage of objects includes different types of trunks used on steamer ships and automobiles, as well as skateboards (designed in collaboration with the late fashion designer and artist Stephen Sprouse and American lifestyle brand Supreme) – which represent new forms of urban mobilities.
The Evolution Gallery is designed to look like a skate ramp.
Skate and street culture, in particular, has notably left its mark on the heritage house. The room itself is designed to look like a skate ramp, while multiple pieces from streetwear icon Abloh show his influential hand in modernising the house for a new generation of collectors.
Finally, get grooving at the interactive monogram wall, which honours the iconic Louis Vuitton monogram – invented in 1896 by Georges Vuitton as a homage to his father, Louis, and popularised globally to become one of the house’s most famous codes today.
Ahead more highlights from the show.
For the 2011 opening of LV’s Sydney maison in George Street, Australian artist Billie Achilleos created a trio of quintessentially Australian animal sculptures out of LV small leather goods. The full gang has a koala, a crocodile and kangaroo – whose baby joey peeks adorably out of a monogram-emblazoned pouch.
Artistic director Kim Jones’ final look for Louis Vuitton is one even non-fashion buffs will recognise. The designer honoured the famous monogram canvas with a jacket-and-trousers set emulating the Monogram Vernis canvas – the brand’s embossed patent leather that gives a glossy effect, which was used in its leather goods creations in the 1990s.
In 2012, the maison tapped Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, who lent her whimsical touch to a number of leather goods, shoes and ready-to-wear items which she covered in her characteristic obsessive dots. The classic Keepall bag – a practical cabin bag beloved by many famous personalities – gets the same treatment here in a fun pumpkin-inspired colourway. Fans of the collaboration will be pleased to know that the dynamic pairing will return next year with more spotty signature LV shapes for men and women. Marking the 10-year anniversary of the first collaboration, the new collection was first teased at the Cruise 2023 fashion show in San Diego in May 2022.
Welsh former model and legendary fashion stylist Grace Coddington got to leave her mark on the brand, with a collaboration unveiled by Nicolas Ghesquiere for the Cruise 2019 collection. The capsule collection of leather goods, accessories, shoes and ready-to-wear included this iconic hatbox handbag, which tips its hat to Ghesquiere and Coddington’s shared love of cats and dogs. The illustrations depict his dog, Leon, and her two Persians, Pumpkin and Blanket.
Adding another chapter to the house’s list of collaborations with cultural icons was pop artist Jeff Koons in 2017. For this Masters collection, Koons brought five of his Gazing Ball Paintings to Vuitton bags, incorporating reproductions of iconic masterpieces from artists onto signature styles. He also got to redesign and resize the LV monogram for the series, as well as include his own initials on the bag – a world-first for the brand. Seen here is the Speedy bearing none other than Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, whose reverent gaze seems to follow you wherever you go, just like in the painting.
The luxury brand’s collaboration with New York skatewear brand Supreme certainly raised eyebrows when it launched in 2017, but has since gone down in history as one of the most revolutionary. Blurring the lines between streetwear and high fashion, it also paved the way for a new era of high-low collaborations. A scintillating red Monogram Supreme was created specially for the collection, which debuted with a trunk and skateboard alongside ready-to-wear and leather goods.
Back in the day, one could travel by sea or air with wardrobe trunks – which were carried horizontally, but could also be used in an upright position. LV’s offering had a hanging rail, compartments and drawers to protect delicate clothing and accessories. The copy for an advertising insert dated June 28, 1924, read: “A Vuitton trunk is a must for any traveller wishing to store their clothing safely and conveniently in true elegance.”
For a fun twist, the maison has also imagined what travelling will look like in 2054 – and what contraptions people may take along with them then. One of 14 pieces with transformable functions in this cheeky Louis Vuitton 2054 collection, this coat that converts into a tent revolutionises the codes of urban clothing. Its place in the Evolution Gallery contrasts the new way of travelling with the old.
From the end of the 1860s, Vuitton invented a model of a bed trunk intended to accompany explorers around the world. His son Georges filed the invention patent for this model in 1885, with features such as zinc coating to reinforce protection against insects and humidity. Juxtaposed beside it is a 2016 creation from the brand’s Objets Nomades Collection of travel-inspired furniture. The calfskin lounge chair designed by Dutch design company Marcel Wanders Studio is a modular piece that can unfold into a chaise longue echoing the bed trunk’s silhouette.
This article is adapted from a story that first appeared in The Straits Times