Louis Vuitton & Yayoi Kusama

2012 was a good year for Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. She is best known for her use of polka dots, and a retrospective exhibition of her artwork was shown at two major international museums over the course of one year. If you don’t recognize her name, you may have seen the dotted flower sculpture of Beverly Hills or theYellow Trees that enveloped the Whitney Museum development in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan. Kusama told Women’s Wear Daily, “Marc Jacobs came to see me in Tokyo in 2006, and he asked me if I wanted to come to the States and do fashion. That sort of encouraged me because…Fashion has always attracted me.” From this 2006 encounter, blossomed a series of garments, window fronts and shop designs that—thanks to Jacobs’ collaboration—made Kusama’s artistic visions come alive across the globe. Unfortunately, the clothes paled in comparison to the graphic and hypnotic storefronts. Most notable was London’s Selfridge department store that featured Kusama’s favored giant pumpkins—and subsequently, a completely sold out collection. Printemps in Paris donned mirrored window fronts with polka dotted mannequins and silver baubles reminiscent of Kusama’s 1966 Narcissus Garden work.