Celebrating the Monogram

In 1854, Louis Vuitton founded his House and in 1896 his son, Georges Vuitton, created The Monogram in honour of his late father. It is one of the first exercises in elevated branding and a defining sign of a global culture to come. It quickly became an icon.

Louis Vuitton’s ‘Celebrating Monogram’ project is a collection of works that shows the distinctly personal side of the Monogram. Six creative iconoclasts – the best in their individual fields – who blur the lines between fashion, art, architecture and product design, have been given carte blanche to dictate and make whatever they see fit in the patterned canvas.

Echoing the special Louis Vuitton centenary collection of 1996 – where Azzedine Alaia, Manolo Blahnik, Romeo Gigli, Helmut Lang, Isaac Mizrahi, Sybilla and Vivienne Westwood contributed individual and distinct designs – for 2014’s collection, the participants have progressed even further. Here, Christian Louboutin, Cindy Sherman, Frank Gehry, Karl Lagerfeld, Marc Newson and Rei Kawakubo radically, personally and playfully realise an unparalleled collection.

To die for, I must say.