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Handbag display inspired by a chocolate box. -
Portraits of Vuitton and Jacobs -
A day's wardrobe, back in Vuitton's day, necessitated many trunks when traveling. -
Trianon Trunk (left) and trunks for one trip (right) -
Trunks -
LV Monogram by Georges Vuitton -
Trunks -
Bag from the Stephen Sprouse collection. -
Stephen Sprouse -
Takashi Murakami (left) and My Favorite Color is Shiny (right) -
Bag from the Takashi Murakami collaboration. -
My Favorite Color Is Shiny -
My Favorite Color Is Shiny (left) Stephen Sprouse (left) -
So Long Dearie with Richard Prince -
Put On Your Sunday Clothes -
Kage Moss, a look worn by Kate Moss on the runway. -
Blue-y Vuitton
It might be a stretch to compare a 21st century American designer to a 19thcentury French trunk maker, but that’s the ambitious conceit of the new “Louis Vuitton – Marc Jacobs” exhibit that just opened at Paris’s Musée des Arts Décoratifs and runs through September 16th. Visitors who climb the stairs to the first floor of the multi-media exhibit are immediately confronted with formal portraits of the two men: Louis Vuitton drawn in 1892 by Studio Reutlinger and Marc Jacobs peering out of a highly stylized Rankin photograph. The show, dreamed up by curator Pamela Golbin, compares the work of these two innovators in the context of the seismic cultural and industrial shifts of their times. In broad strokes, it’s an analysis of the fashion industry during two decisive periods of enormous change—19th century industrialization and 21st century globalization. That’s really where the similarities between Mr. Vuitton and Mr. Jacobs end. After all, what do 19th century steamer trunks have in common with $3,000 Murakami bags?
You would be surprised.
