Louis Vuitton & Takashi Murakami

Amidst the millions of anime eyes and smiling flowers of Tokyo-born pop-artist Takashi Murakami’s 2007 exhibition “Superflat,” was the world’s most indulgent museum shop. Monographs, posters, and key chains were reserved for MOCA’sactual in-house store, a Louis Vuitton pop-up establishment with thousand-dollar totes. The monogrammed merchandise featured familiar characters and motifs of Murakami’s and was specially designed for the in-situ boutique. The gesture was an unprecedented one for any American art museum, and in an interview at the opening of the exhibition, supermodel Linda Evangelista was asked by a reporter, “What do you think of this synergy of art and fashion?” Her response, “Well, it certainly makes fashion more interesting.” The collaboration that began in 2003 as multicolored L’s and V’s had evolved into so much more.