Off the back of a successful tour through Asia and Dubai, Louis Vuitton’s roaming exhibition ‘See LV’ has recently landed in Sydney and is already delighting visitors with its interactive spaces and innovative digital experiences. Taking up residence in Circular Quay on the edge of the City’s iconic harbour, this impressive exhibition is giving us the chance to get up close and personal with a number of iconic archival objects from the brand’s heritage collections alongside a curation of recent creations as well, offering insight into how Louis Vuitton has remained at the forefront of fashion since the late 19th Century. So if you’ve been thinking about a trip to Sydney before the end of the year, be sure to put this experience on your list.
Stepping inside, visitors are greeted with a digitally-rendered portrait of a young Louis Vuitton, created (using artificial intelligence) by Turkish artist Refik Anadol. This leads into a room filled with a selection of men’s and womenswear that weaves through the work of some of the Maison’s most renowned designers (including Virgil Abloh, Nicolas Ghesquière, Kim Jones and Marc Jacobs). Contemporary pieces stand alongside breathtaking archival ones, painting a clear picture of the ways in which Louis Vuitton has been influencing the wider fashion landscape since its early inception.
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Another major component of the exhibition is a wall filled with Louis Vuitton’s most iconic bags — bags are, after all, a cornerstone of the house. Designs that have been part of the Maison’s story since the late 1890s sit alongside renowned contemporary designs, as well as a number of pieces made in collaboration with Atelier Fornasetti, Takashi Murakami and Yayoi Kusama. Displayed in their distinctive style groups (from Keepall to Speedy, Noé and more) and kept in chronological order, these bags trace Louis Vuitton’s history from a beautiful flat trunk designed in 1906 to a Petite Boîte Chapeau designed for Fall-Winter 2021.
In the Evolution Gallery, visitors are treated to a series of visually-arresting displays that speak to Louis Vuitton’s involvement in the evolution of transport, from the steamer ship to the skateboard. Here, visitors will find a curation of some of the Maison’s most recognisable and revolutionary creations — from a lounge chair from the Objets Nomades collection to a transformable raincoat-tent from Virgil Abloh’s Louis Vuitton 2054 collection to a skateboard in Monogram Graffiti designed in collaboration with Stephen Sprouse. Each carrying its own story around how it influenced changing lifestyles and travelling habits.
Finally, what would a Louis Vuitton exhibition be without some kind of ode to the monogram that has made it so globally recognisable? The culmination of the See LV journey is an interactive space dedicated to the symbols of Louis Vuitton — a code that, since its creation in 1896, has transcended time, trends and design to remain at the heart of this Maison, even as it is perpetually reinvented by the brand’s creative directors.
The very last stop in this pop-up exhibition is a Louis Vuitton library space, in which the latest literary launches and publications by Éditions Louis Vuitton (over 100) are available for any interested visitors to peruse.
On now and running until the 11th of December, See LV is an extraordinary expression of one of the world’s most influential fashion houses — a fitting ode to an icon. And while entry is technically free, you must reserve your visiting time in advance, with tickets able to be organised via the Louis Vuitton website, here.
