Discover LOUIS VUITTON‘s 2021 Artycapucines collection that sees six leading contemporary artists bring their unique visions to brand’s timeless and feminine classic: the Capucines bag.
BAGS
For this latest collection, six internationally acclaimed artists, Paola Pivi, Zeng Fanzhi, Vik Muniz, Donna Huanca, Huang Yuxing, and Gregor Hildebrandt have transformed the blank canvas of the iconic bag named after Rue Neuve-des-Capucines, the Parisian street on which Louis Vuitton opened his first store in 1854.
Louis Vuitton Capucines by Gregor Hildebrandt
German contemporary artist Gregor Hildebrandt showcased both for his love of vinyl records and his trademark “rip-off” technique, in which he uses the magnetic dust from old recording tape to create striking black-and-white images. The original work he created specifically for his Capucines is meticulously screen-printed onto the bag’s white leather.
Louis Vuitton Capucines by Donna Huanca
American contemporary artist Donna Huanca was inspired by her Cara de Fuego and Muyal Jol paintings, that continue the artist’s investigation into art’s interaction with the female body, the two artworks and their paint-based tactile effects are carefully 3D printed onto the bag’s white leather, before three different embroidery techniques – including the densely filled point de bouclette – are employed to heighten specific sections of the design.
Louis Vuitton Capucines by Vik Muniz
Inspired by his 2019 series Quasi Tutto, Vik Muniz’s BB-sized Capucines charms with its inspired playfulness, beautiful textural layering, and exuberant trompe l’œil effects. The 154 striking and bright icons that feature on each bag – from a teapot to a pineapple, an elephant to the Louis Vuitton Monogram flower – are randomly positioned across the white leather.
Louis Vuitton Capucines by Zeng Fanzhi
Zeng Fanzhi’s richly sensorial Capucines is based upon a dramatic reinterpretation of a self-portrait by Vincent Van Gogh that Fanzhi originally created in 2017. The complex process of transferring this vivid and highly painterly image to the bag’s leather surface began by creating a pattern – which alone took 3 highly skilled artisans 10 days to complete – so that a wide variety of embroidery techniques, including chenille-yarn tufting, could be employed.
Louis Vuitton Capucines by Huang Yuxing
Huang Yuxing’s dazzling BB-sized Capucines is based upon a specially reworked version of his 2019 painting The Colossus Hidden Deep in the Hills. The landscape’s outline – including the oval shape that is a Huang signature – is first printed onto white-grey leather and then embroidered with grey thread to add perspective.
Louis Vuitton Capucines by Paola Pivi
Inspired by her 2007 work One Cup of Cappuccino Then I Go, the Capucines imagined by Paola Pivi is a masterpiece of labour-intensive leather marquetry. The work’s striking leopard is first richly embroidered onto smooth leather, before being overprinted to create a fur-like look and touch.
