BTS Designed A Trunk For Louis Vuitton’s 200th Birthday—Here’s A First Look At Their Design
French luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton is celebrating their 200th birthday, but not without help from their House Ambassadors BTS!
To celebrate this milestone for the brand, a huge project has been in the works for six months. Louis Vuitton is filling the windows of 460 of their stores with trunks designed by 200 people. Some of the designers include Drake, Gloria Steinem, Marc Jacobs, Kim Jones, and, of course, BTS.
The reason everyone is designing trunks is that it is representative of Vuitton’s legacy. Beginning with trunks, Mr. Vuitton founded what would one day become the legendary company it is today back in 1854 Paris. His son Georges Ferréol Vuitton successfully expanded the company later and also originated the iconic LV monogram.
Louis Vuitton’s Visual Image Director Faye McLeod, Art Director Ansel Thompson, and Menswear Artistic Director Virgil Abloh have all been heavily involved in the planning and curating the list of people who would be selected for the trunks’ designing. They didn’t want only traditional visual artists but rather “visionaries” who would be able to “capture the spirit” of Mr. Vuitton. So, they recruited also activists, scientists, explorers, and poets, which they advised to “think of their trunks ‘as a vessel: for an object, a dream, a future, a reflection, a desire.'”
Some of the artists “were given boxes with common dimensions” but the ability to “redefine the shape at will.” They gave them full creative freedom as various trunks were made from polished stainless steel, greenery, paint, sculpting, jelly, photographs, mini-balloons, etc.
Ms. Mcleod revealed that while a few overdue contributors’ trunks have not been returned to the brand yet, the BTS submission arrived “really quickly.” Their trunk was covered by the members’ doodles of hearts, whales, arrows, crabs, stripes, and a large carrot (perhaps a reference to RM’s accessory from the brand).
They obviously knew what they wanted to express.
— Louis Vuitton’s Visual Image Director Faye Mcleod
If you look closer, you can also see small signatures from members. So, it tells us that V and Jimin designed the side of the box with the whales. Hopefully, we’ll see some of the other members’ designs soon too!
Ultimately, Louis Vuitton will exhibit all of the physical trunks, followed by a charity auction. The brand has pledged $11,800 USD to charity for each trunk, and the trunks’ designers were allowed to select where their donation would go out of a list of 15 global arts education nonprofits. You’ll also be able to potentially purchase a book about the 200th birthday collaboration in the future.
