Five artists; five carrés. This is the newest drop of luxurious silk scarves by Louis Vuitton, which continues to expand its universe by inviting a handful of different creatives to play around with the Maison’s codes and heritage. Working around the concept of the flower, embedded in Louis Vuitton’s DNA (and monogram), artists Eboy, Icinori, Lorenzo Marotti, Nicolas de Crécy, and Thomas Ott have used square silk scarves as their canvases, resulting in colourful, detailed, and bold accessories.
The line between fashion and art is sometimes blurry, and Louis Vuitton walks that line like a tightrope walker. For decades, the Maison has collaborated closely with different artists on various accessories, from handbags to suitcases to scarves. The first one when it comes to the latter took place in 1987, when Sol LeWitt, Arata Isozaki, Sandro Chia, Arman, and James Rosenquist were invited to channel their talents into a carré. After the massive success, other notable figures like César Baldaccini, Andrée Putman, Philippe Starck, Os Gemeos, or Retna have also contributed to the project.
Now, it’s the time of a new batch of artists to do so. After presenting their original artworks to Louis Vuitton, the Maison takes them to the expert hands of different artisans working in Como, Italy, who withhold the centuries-old silkworking expertise. Involving a series of complex processes (rendering multiple layers of colour on white silk, washing, drying, hand-stitching the edges, or the roulottage), the famous carrés are made and shipped worldwide for people to enjoy their vibrant colours and soft texture.
