The Louis Vuitton X exhibition: 160 years of iconic items and collaborations

Los Angeles. 468 North Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills. The sun illuminates a magnificent white building, highlighting the tie-dye details that change from orange to fuchsia. This image would be enough to make the counts of your likes increase, but the structure hides other highly Instagrammable secrets.

Once entered we are inside Louis Vuitton X, an exhibition that celebrates the creative exchanges between the house and its collaborators in its 160 years of history. In 10 rooms spread over two floors, more than 180 representative articles from the brand's archive present LV's continuous dialogue between past and future, heritage and modernity, savoir-faire and innovation. The visual and interactive journey begins with the portrait of a Louis Vuitton when he was 16 years old by the American painter Alex Katz and continues with a series of multicolored spaces occupied by Art Deco perfume bottles, furniture and special trunks from the early twentieth century. A luminous panel placed next to a unique bronze sculpture by Sylvie Fleury reminds us of all the artists who have reworked the brand's iconic Monogram from Stephen Sprouse to Takashi Murakami, from Damien Hirst to Jeff Koons. In another room, we can see Louis Vuitton's collaborations with other prestigious designers who have transformed traditional LV bags into unique pieces, such as the box sack created by Karl Lagerfeld, a photographer's trunk made by Cindy Sherman, a sculpture bag by Zaha Hadid. 

Art meets fashion in the next room, where Maison's fabric designs on canvases cover the walls. Then vitamin-colored spaces, scarves and items, part of the collaborations with Vivienne Westwood, Helmut Lang, Alaïa, Virgil Abloh and a number of other designers alternate. A must-see is the Pink Room where there are 31 looks designed by Nicolas Ghesquière, artistic director of the women's collections, for the most famous Hollywood stars. It's easy to recognize the silk dress chosen by Alicia Vikander for the Golden Globe Awards and the one worn by Emma Stone at the Met Gala. The last stop of the exhibition is dedicated to Artycapucines, the capsule collection limited edition of Capucines, the famous bag of the house that takes its name from the street where Louis Vuitton opened his first store, transformed by contemporary artists Alex Israel, Urs Fischer, Jonas Wood, Nicholas Hlobo, Tschabalala Self and Sam Falls. Louis Vuitton X will remain open in Los Angeles until September 16, 2019.