Yayoi Kusama, who died Aug. 14 at 97, invited global audiences into her colorful world through her collaborations with Louis Vuitton. Penske Media via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Yayoi Kusama made her mark on fashion history \u2014 one dot at a time.<\/p>\n
The Japanese artist, who died at 97<\/a> on Aug. 14, may be best remembered in the art world for her Infinity Mirror Rooms and pumpkin sculptures. But fashion fans know her for a different magnum opus: her boundary-blurring partnership with Louis Vuitton.<\/p>\n The artist teamed with the French luxury house twice \u2014 first in 2012, then again in 2023 \u2014 turning the label\u2019s monogram canvas and global boutiques into playgrounds for her signature spots.<\/p>\n The Japanese artist gifted then-creative director Marc Jacobs a dot-painted Ellipse bag when he visited her Tokyo studio in 2006. louisvuitton\/instagram<\/p>\n Six years later, the pair launched Dots Infinity \u2014 a collaboration timed to Kusama\u2019s Whitney Museum retrospective in New York. FilmMagic<\/p>\n A lifelike wax figure of Kusama stood in Vuitton\u2019s Fifth Avenue flagship windows during the 2012 rollout. FilmMagic<\/p>\n The seed was planted in 2006, when then-creative director Marc Jacobs paid a visit to Kusama in Tokyo and she sent him home with an Ellipse bag she\u2019d painted over with dots.<\/p>\n The first collaboration, called Dots Infinity, launched in tandem with the artist\u2019s career retrospective at New York\u2019s Whitney Museum of American Art and saw LV\u2019s sunglasses, coats, shoes and totes covered in Kusama\u2019s trademark print.<\/p>\n \u201cThe obsessive character and the innocence of her artwork touch me,\u201d Jacobs said in a press release at the time. \u201cShe succeeds in sharing her vision of the world with us.\u201d<\/p>\n The in-store rollout was an international spectacle, with many of the brand\u2019s stores covered in spots inside and out, and a wax figure of the artist presiding over the windows of the Fifth Avenue flagship.<\/p>\n The second Kusama chapter, this time under artistic director Nicolas Ghesqui\u00e8re and then-executive vice president Delphine Arnault, was even bigger. Launched in January 2023, the 450-piece collection introduced a new technique that let Vuitton mimic the texture of the artist\u2019s brushstrokes on leather and included pieces studded with metal half-spheres in a nod to her 1966 Venice Biennale piece \u201cNarcissus Garden.\u201d<\/p>\n The second Louis Vuitton x Kusama collection arrived in January 2023 under artistic director Nicolas Ghesqui\u00e8re. Instagram\/Louis Vuitton<\/p>\n The Speedy, Alma, Keepall and Neverfull handbag styles all got polka-dot makeovers for the encore. Getty Images<\/p>\n A towering Kusama sculpture appeared outside Louis Vuitton\u2019s Paris headquarters. Getty Images<\/p>\n The Speedy, Alma, Keepall and Neverfull styles all got Kusama makeovers.<\/a> A pumpkin-shaped yellow bag \u2014 one of the collection\u2019s holy grails \u2014 went on to fetch $151,200<\/a> at a Christie\u2019s New York auction in 2024.<\/p>\n Louis Vuitton\u2019s storefronts once again became viral destinations<\/a>. A towering Kusama sculpture loomed over the Champs \u00c9lys\u00e9es store, while a robot version of the artist painted dots in the window of a Manhattan boutique.<\/p>\n The blockbuster \u201cCreating Infinity\u201d campaign <\/a>followed, shot by Steven Meisel and starring Bella Hadid, Gisele B\u00fcndchen<\/a> and Justin Timberlake<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hadid celebrated the campaign \u2014 her first for the house \u2014 on Instagram in 2023, telling followers the link to Kusama was particularly meaningful: \u201cI connect with her deeply on healing mental struggles through artistic freedom and creation,\u201d the model wrote.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tShop \u2019til you drop with Post Wanted\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSave time and money with the latest deals, discounts, trends, reviews and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n A pumpkin-shaped yellow bag from the lineup, seen here on Blackpink\u2019s Lisa, fetched $151,200 at Christie\u2019s New York in 2024. Instagram \/ @lalalalisa_m<\/p>\n Bella Hadid, tapped for the campaign, said she related to Kusama\u2019s mental health struggles and \u201chealing\u2026 through artistic freedom and creation.\u201d Louis Vuitton<\/p>\n Kusama voluntarily lived in a Tokyo psychiatric hospital from 1977 until her death, painting daily from a nearby studio. Instagram\/Louis Vuitton<\/p>\n Kusama was open about her lifelong challenges with mental health. The artist voluntarily checked into a Tokyo psychiatric hospital in 1977 and lived there for the rest of her life, painting daily from a studio down the road.<\/p>\n