Louis Vuitton AR Art on Famous Landmarks
Louis Vuitton & Yayoi Kusama collab for newest installation
French luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton has collaborated with Japanese renowned artist Yayoi Kusama on a series of Augmented Reality (AR) Art installations on famous landmarks. These larger than life installations feature Kusama's iconic dots which the landmarks are virtually encompassed by.
The project which launched in January 2023, is showcased across the globe on the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, Tower Bridge, Arc de Triomphe, the Natural History Museum, and London’s National Gallery.
Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama Collaboration
Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama are using these fun new attractions as a means to further promote their physical collaboration of mens and womens apparel, handbags, shoes, and accessories, being sold at Louis Vuitton stores and online. The decade long awaited second collab launched worldwide January 6th 2023 and is massive consisting of over 450 individual items. The promotion of this line has been overwhelming as Louis Vuitton stores worldwide have been painted with Kusama's dots, and some stores, like the Louis Vuitton in NYC located on the Upper East Side, showcase a realistic Yayoi Kusama robot painting dots in the storefront window!
How can the AR be Viewed?
Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama created these AR installations with Snapchat’s Landmarker Lenses. Social media users in select cities can view the installations by launching the Snapchat app and focusing the matching LV x YK lense on the landmark. Louis Vuitton director of digital media, Pierre Castillion, stated that the partnership with Snapchat has allowed LV to “extend our creativity through a new technology playground”.
However, this isn’t the first time that Snapchat has partnered with the luxury company. In 2019, Louis Vuitton began experimenting with AR after creating a rendition of the late Virgil Abloh’s Keepall bag. Snapchat has also created Lenses inspired by Yayoi Kusama including one featuring her iconic pumpkin art, as well as another that projects dots onto the users surroundings. Geoffrey Perez, head of luxury at Snapchat, aims to “go bigger” with these new ventures.
What is the Significance of using AR?
Augmented Reality has become the latest way for brands to expand their storytelling to a broadened audience. AR technology allows brands to create interactive content, 3D objects, animations, and videos. Consumers can now experience the brands vision through virtual product engagement, leaving them with a memorable new experience.
By combining our world with elements of the digital world, we are able to experiment with technology without fully escaping into Virtual Reality (VR). While speaking of the collaboration, Snapchats Perez further states “It shows how the world is a canvas. We’re just getting started painting the world out there — not just with colourful dots, but with more utility-focused options.” It sounds like this will not be the last time we see an AR focused campaign takeover like this one — just a matter of time til the next.
