Fashion show on museum runway looks to the future

Draped in elegance and artistic flair, the Long Museum West Bund in Shanghai transformed into a runway of reverie for the Louis Vuitton Voyager Show on Thursday evening, unveiling the Women's Pre-Fall 2024 Collection. Under the luminescent glow of the museum's white minimalist architecture, a constellation of stars, including Australian actress Cate Blanchett and China's own Liu Yifei, graced the event, adding a layer of celestial allure to the occasion.

This collection marks a milestone in the illustrious journey of Nicolas Ghesquière, LV's artistic director of women's collections. Celebrating a decade of creativity and innovation with the brand, Ghesquière continues to redefine the boundaries of fashion with his audacious designs. The Pre-Fall 2024 collection is no exception, presenting a fusion of traditional luxury with bold, contemporary sensibilities.

Adding a vibrant twist to the collection is LV's collaboration with Chinese artist Sun Yitian. Known for her photorealistic paintings of toys and other mass-produced objects, she has collaborated on an exclusive series that colorfully animates the Prefall collection, spanning ready-to-wear, leather goods, trunks, accessories and fragrances.

The designs play with opposition – short juxtaposed with long, refinement meets audacity, and classic prints blend in unexpected marriages, creating an exuberant expression of freedom in both tone and form.

As models strutted across the museum floors, it became clear that each outfit was not just apparel but a statement, a narrative crafted with the genius of Ghesquière and painted with the vivid imagination of Sun, whose enchanting figurative bestiary breathes life and contrast into the silhouettes of the garments.

Sun has created a whimsical assembly of toy-like animals for the collection, including a pink rabbit, yellow duck, spotted dog, leopard, zebra, penguin, and swan. These playful creatures adorn iconic and everyday Louis Vuitton pieces, turning them into the latest collectible series.

"This collaboration was exhilarating from the start," Sun said, "because it's not merely about transposing artwork onto products; it's about elevating the concept behind the art."

Sun's artistic process begins with common "Made in China" goods, items mass-produced and distributed globally at minimal cost. These ordinary, often overlooked products serve as the primary subjects in her art, transforming through her creative vision into high-value, luxurious pieces.

Sun thinks creation and deconstruction are intertwined; creating something is itself an act of deconstruction. Through her partnership with Louis Vuitton, Sun sees a new layer of deconstruction: the reimagining of everyday objects into items of opulence and desire.

"Thanks to this collaboration," she said, "the images in my work undergo another transformation, another deconstruction, converting these cheap, humble items into authentic luxury goods." This process underscores the dual nature of her work, challenging perceptions of value and art in a modern context.

"The connection between paintings on a canvas and the viewer is somewhat static and silent, a form of observation with a certain distance," Sun said. "However, when my artworks are translated into clothing, bags, or perfumes, they become much closer to people, and this interaction is lively and unpredictable. It creates an equal relationship of use."

In recent years, China has become a central stage for Louis Vuitton's fashion showcases. Since 2020, the brand has hosted four major events across the country: a 2020 outdoor men's show on Shanghai's West Bund, a 2021 women's show beside the Huangpu River, a men's "spin-off" show at Aranya Golden Beach in Beidaihe, and Pharrell Williams' first pre-fall collection presented in Hong Kong last November.

Complementing the Shanghai Voyager Show, Louis Vuitton has also made a playful visual impact on Shanghai's urban landscape. The façade of the K11 building is wrapped around with a giant yellow duck, and vivid posters featuring a spotted dog, leopard, zebra, and penguin enliven the streets of Shanghai's bustling neighborhoods. These installations, featuring the enlarged, whimsical toy-like animals from the collection, inject a youthful and vibrant energy into the city.