The fantastic world of Faye McLeod

Faye McLeod. Maybe this name doesn't ring you a bell, but I can assure you that you have seen her artworks at least once in your life. Because Faye McLeod is the Visual Creative Director at Louis Vuitton, namely the woman who sets up the windows of the stores of the brand all over the world. And, believe me, I'm not exaggerating when I say “artworks”.

Surely, you remember Louis Vuitton windows with giant gold dinosaurs skeletons or the invasion of pink tentacles and polkadots in collaboration with Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. Well, all of this and more is the work of Faye McLeod and her team. Not just windows, but art installations to admire from the street.

It's no surprise Faye has worked with artists such as architect Frank Gehry and painter and sculptor Daniel Buren (and Kusama, as mentioned before). Moreover, she has created the set design for some of Louis Vuitton's shows, for example the AW 2012 (recreating a train station on the runway) and the SS 2013.

“I’ve always thought of windows as freeze frame theatre” says Faye McLeod, who adds: “For me the most important aspect is the theatre of the street: it's a front row seat”, reinforcing the artistic and emotional merit of her works. Away from the traditional visual merchandising, McLeod gives life to fantastic, surreal worlds, 3D scenarios with an extreme attention to the detail that make people who admire them astonished, slack-jawed.

The Creative Director's works got the proper recognition thanks to a book which celebrates them. Louis Vuitton Windows (published by Assouline), is a 168-page tome, the cherry on top of the cake for Faye McLeod's career who, from her first Louis Vuitton's window, has never stopped surprising us.