Louis Vuitton Taps Frank Gehry To Build Architectural Marvels Into Handbags
Images via Louis Vuitton
Art Basel Miami Beach welcomes an intriguing fusion of fashion and architecture this year, with Louis Vuitton unveiling a limited-edition handbag collection designed by the renowned Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, who is also credited for the Louis Vuitton Foundation building. This collection, celebrating Gehry’s distinctive style, intersects three themes pivotal to his career: Architecture and Form, Material Exploration, and Animals.
The display booth at Art Basel, embodying Gehry’s flair for form experimentation, showcases his design process through wood and cardboard models. The collection includes reimaginings of Gehry’s works, such as the Twisted Box Trunk from the Celebrating Monogram series and the Bear With Us Clutch, inspired by his 2014 sculpture.
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Each piece in the capsule, an artsy reinterpretation of the beloved Capucines bag, represents a blend of Gehry’s architectural genius and Louis Vuitton’s craftsmanship.
“It’s not something I usually do, handbags,” Gehry shares in an interview. “So, I think it’s a search for ideas and things. Well, every creative person goes through that, you know? I think that’s very similar to making a movie or to shooting a rocket to the Moon.”
Gehry adds, “There are various levels of creativity, and the expertise you bring into it, or years of experience, and stuff. In my case, I’ve built a lot of buildings, so I can shorthand stuff.”
“So, I’ve been having a lot of fun at my young age of 94,” he says with a chuckle.
The Architecture and Form series features the Capucines MM Concrete Pockets, BB Analog Bag, and BB Shimmer Haze.
Images via Louis Vuitton
The Concrete Pockets bag echoes Gehry’s visionary buildings, brought to life with a 3D-printing technique that gives a cement effect to the calfskin exterior. The Analog Bag, inspired by Gehry’s IAC Building, transforms into a geometric sculpture with screen-printed leather. Meanwhile, the Shimmer Haze, reminiscent of Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture, boasts a kaleidoscopic facade.
Images via Louis Vuitton
Images via Louis Vuitton
In the Material Exploration category, the Capucines Mini Blossom draws from Gehry’s perfume bottle designs, featuring glass-like resin petals and a hammered LV coin. The Mini Puzzle handbag presents a playful aquarelle print on lambskin, forming a floral motif with an elongated silver-toned metal handle.
Images via Louis Vuitton
Images via Louis Vuitton
The Animal-themed bags include the BB Croc, mirroring Gehry’ sculpture for London’s Sexy Fish restaurant; the MM Floating Fish, inspired by his piscine lamps at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, and the sculptural Bear with Us Clutch, based on Gehry’s artwork. The BB Croc features a neon-yellow digital print with a reptilian brass handle, while the MM Floating Fish exhibits a 3D marquetry fish design.
Images via Louis Vuitton
Images via Louis Vuitton
Images via Louis Vuitton
The collection also revisits Gehry’s Twisted Box design in a sleek black leather variation, maintaining its iconic angular form and brass clasp.
Images via Louis Vuitton
Open to the public from December 8 through 10 at the Miami Beach Convention Center, this collection showcases a unique collaboration that cracks open a window between architecture and fashion.
[via WWD, Essence, Louis Vuitton, images via Louis Vuitton]
