Master class

Do you love a statement bag? Then how about this incredible arm candy?

Louis Vuitton hosts the master class

every fashion lover knows about the value of an investment piece – a style buy that raises the game of any outfit, creating fashion statements that look amazing for years to come. And when it comes to investment pieces, an accessory bearing the Louis Vuitton monogram is right up there with the most covetable of all.

But how about combining that fashion investment with a priceless old master, via the vision of a contemporary art star? That’s what we’re talking about when it comes to ‘Masters’, a sensational new collaboration between the American artist Jeff Koons and the Louis Vuitton brand.

“To me, art is something which lets us become more aware of our life, our potential and what we can become,” says the artist, whose exuberant and provocative motifs include inflatable flowers, balloon animals, sexy bodies and mirrored surfaces. (It’s an approach that has put his sculptures, photography and paintings at the forefront of the creative scene for decades, culminating in the 2013 sale of his Balloon Dog sculpture for $58 million (R758 000 000), making it the most expensive work ever sold.

When it came to the collaboration with Louis Vuitton he says, “We both had the same objective: we wanted to use material, texture and colour to communicate and to create something desirable.”

As for Louis Vuitton, the brand has long and extensive ties with the art world, via its foundation

“Art is something which lets us become more aware of our life, our potential and what we can become.”

in Paris and its trendsetting history of working with a wide range of creative leaders.

There was the iconoclastic Stephen Sprouse ‘Graffiti’ collection of 2001, the multi-coloured monogram collaboration with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami in 2003. There have also been partnerships with Damien Hirst, James Turrell and Olafur Eliasson.

When it comes to the ‘Masters’ collection, just imagine yourself in a gallery that is filled with works by the world’s most famous and beloved painters. And then imagine these masterpieces reworked through the looking glass of a blue sphere, and the result is the Jeff Koons collaboration.

The series: accessories featuring Vincent Van Gogh’s Wheat Field with Cypresses, Peter Paul Rubens’ The Tiger Hunt, Jean-honoré Fragonard’s Girl with a Dog, Titian’s Mars, Venus and Cupid, and Leonardo’s Mona Lisa. The incredibly desirable 51-piece line includes

scarves, keychains and wallets, but the highlight is undoubtedly the handbags, all emblazoned with the Louis Vuitton monogram, the name of the master and Jeff Koons’ signature bunny.

Available in select Louis Vuitton stores and at a popup store in New York, US.