Louis Vuitton – Marc Jacobs at Les Arts Décoratifs
This week I finally made it to the Louis Vuitton - Marc Jacobs exhibition at Les Arts Décoratifs. It’s a small exhibition with a big visual impact. The first floor is dedicated to Louis Vuitton and the beginnings of the company in the 19th century, focusing on his beautiful handcrafted trunks and creation of the trademark monogram logo. A small staircase takes you to the second floor and into what feels like a time machine. A floor-to-ceiling display of videos and backlit images quickly propels you through time to the modern day Louis Vuitton under the direction of Marc Jacobs. I can only describe this half of the exhibition as “eye-candy” — an entire wall of handbags and imaginative displays of fashion including pieces created in collaboration with artists Takashi Murakami, Stephen Sprouse, Richard Prince. This exhibition reminded me a lot of the Alexander McQueen show at The Met last year, and it’s wonderful how museums are putting life into what used to be static fashion displays.
Marc Jacobs himself said of the exhibition, “To me, there’s nothing more boring than seeing a bunch of clothes that were once worn by people with interesting lives, on a bunch of still mannequins in a quiet environment. So there’ll be music, there’ll be moving images, animated mannequins; just fantastic imaginative ways of showing the things that were inspiring the parallels past and present.”
Louis Vuitton – Marc Jacobs is on view through September 16 at Les Arts Décoratifs in Paris
107 Rue de Rivoli 75001
Tuesday – Sunday from 11 to 6, Thursday from 11 to 9
Photos by Kaitlin Rebesco
