In the unlikely event that you were born under a rock, dahling (no offense to our think-piece editors, the brainworms), you may be unaware of the 2000s era-defining fashion moment when the rainbow-loving, manga-maxing flowerchild of the art world, Takashi Murakami, teamed up with legendary French maison Louis Vuitton, helmed at the time by Marc Jacobs, to create the colorful monogrammed bags made popular by the Barbiegirl socialite Paris Hilton. Those were the days!
Au courant fashion children are loving all things 2000s, dahling. They’re chuffed to bits for “vintage” track suits, baggy pants, & Ed Hardy (it’s true, dahling). In the 2000s we were living for the whacky decadence of the 80s, flirting with bits of neon & teased hair à la Snookie from Jersey Shore, & in the 80s we were living for the 50s, James Dean & diners & sock hops (if you don’t believe me, check out the video for Janet Jackson’s What Have You Done For Me Lately?, dahling, the proof is in the pudding). The past is a deep well of inspiration for the future of fashion, thus its cyclical nature, jolly good show!
Louis Vuitton is no silly billy, & reading the writing on the wall, they’re rolling out a relaunch of the iconic Murakami handbags this month, with a campaign featuring the breathtaking Zendaya (she who never seems to turn down a fashion campaign & is becoming rather the village bicycle of the luxury houses, dahling, though you shan’t see this old bird complaining). With Pharrell Williams a known Murakami fan & still proving his chops as the predecessor of Virgil Abloh (God rest his soul, & big shoes to fill!), the collaboration makes sense. The products themselves seem hardly different from the originals in 2000, but the pop-up experiences & sheet variation of the pieces are what’s now now now. Certainly you can’t get away with just making an It bag these days (they’ll be hard pressed to oust the embossed Telfar tote that currently reigns supreme) one must create an immersive experience, with cute cafe & all, to get the posh girlies in the door whatsoever.
Word round the bend has been that the luxury sector has been taking a dip — who’s surprised? With everyone & their auntie (present commentator excluded, dahling) draping themselves in athleisure & variations on sweats in gleeful mimicry of loungey Kardashian-Wests, the concept of ‘luxury’ itself has been going through some helter-skelter growing pains of late (check out volume two of Humphrey Magazine for our own fanciful investigations of ‘luxury’!) The current effort by Louis Vuitton & Takashi Murakami invites a long overdue breath of something that’s been sorely missing from fashion & the culture lately: in a word, joy.
Is whimsy itself a luxury? We certainly think so at Humphrey! & it would seem Louis Vuitton agrees. Hey Louis, be a dear & send us a bag? There’s a good man!
—Auntie
