[Chanelcouture09]

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LOUIS VUITTON is celebrating its highly-anticipated Yayoi Kusama collaboration with a creative takeover in Selfridges. On August 24, the store will unveil a dedicated window display created by the artist herself and a pop-up boutique, open for six weeks, focusing on the new collection. The Tate Modern kicked off this year's Kusama fever with a retrospective exhibition, which opened in February and closed earlier this month. Shoppers will be invited to step into Kusama's world as Selfridges' Concept Store will be redecorated using the artist's signature giant pumpkins. It will carry the collection's handbags, ready-to-wear, travel bags, shoes and accessories. Kusama will also create a 24-window design - the biggest window makeover in the store's history.

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LOUIS VUITTON and Yayoi Kusama are teaming up to create a collection, launching on July 10 - with a second instalment landing in stores in October. The French fashion house first worked with the Japanese artist back in February, when it offered financial support for her retrospective at the Tate Modern. "Her energy is just endless," Vuitton creative director Marc Jacobs said of the artist. "Through the painstaking sort of obsession in each of her canvasses and installations that she's created, you see this world that never ends. I guess that's what I admire and that's what I respond to in terms of feeling for her and for her work." The collection will focus on Kusama's bold signature surreal spots, which will appear on skirts, tops, leggings and bags. Jacobs first met 83-year-old Kusama, who voluntarily lives in a psychiatric institution, in 2006 at her Tokyo studio. "Louis Vuitton has outlets and fans all around the world and I hope, like with other collaborations, and expect, like other collaborations, that this will bring the work of Kusama to a new audience and that's the audience of Louis Vuitton," added Jacobs. "It continues something I began when I came here which is the idea of art and collaboration, or collaboration with artists. For many people who don't look at art or go to galleries, or maybe they're not aware of Kusama's work, there will be a new venue, a new place to see this work and to come to appreciate it through the eyes of Louis Vuitton." The luxury label is well-known for its art collaborations, notably for its work with Steven Sprouse in 2001, when the artist covered Vuitton bags with his signature graffiti; as well as with Japanese print artist Takashi Murakami, whose colourful take on the Vuitton monogram was first launched in 2002.

*Vogue.co.uk