Community (Louis Vuitton continued from page 1) The livestream of the Shanghai show alone garnered 1.1 million views on YouTube, proving that despite a pandemic, the fashion show must go on. Spotlight on Rodeo Drive The Louis Vuitton Men’s Temporary Residency is enlivening Rodeo Drive with a bright red bespoke “shipping container” façade, black and white patterned window coverings and giant inflatable cartoon-like characters (explained below) hovering above the entrance and on the roof. The installation is expected to generate the same level of attention as the wildly successful “Louis Vuitton X” exhibit that celebrated Louis Vuitton’s legacy of artistic collaborations. That activation was in place for five months in the same space in 2019. Alas, the Louis Vuitton Men’s Temporary Residency will be in Beverly Hills only through early March. And current Health Orders dictate a 25 percent maximum occupancy level at any given time. Fortunately, one needn’t be inside to enjoy everything the Temporary Residency has to offer. QR and Snapchat codes on the exterior walls allow bystanders to interact with animated characters and generate shareable content. More surprises await inside, as discovered by the Courier during a sneak preview before the official Feb. 5 opening.
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The 1,600 square-foot retail space stages the Louis Vuitton Men’s Spring-Summer 2021 Collection in red shipping containers, which will be available for purchase. On the floor, black and white tiles are arranged in hypnotic patterns. An entire wall is taken up by a video screen playing a permanent loop of “Menswear Moments" from current collections. Inside the containers, displays feature jackets, sweaters, shirts and bags in vibrant blue, orange, yellow and green. The collection’s edgy “cartoon” mascots are visible as designs embedded on bags and accessories, even serving as stuffed toys affixed to some pieces. As set forth in more detail in the Jan. 15 Courier Exclusive (“Louis Vuitton Men’s Temporary Residency Heading to Beverly Hills”), the characters came to life during the early days of the pandemic. The Journey’s Origins When it became clear last year that fashion weeks would not go on as usual, global brands vied to outdo each other virtually. None incorporated as imaginative a means as Louis Vuitton Artistic Director Virgil Abloh. He debuted a short film at Digital Fashion Week in Paris in June 2020, entitled “The Adventures of Zoooom with friends.” Part animation, part live-action, the film introduced a surreal but laid-back cast of animated characters. Their ranks included Joe, the huge, anthropomorphized orange
Rodeo Drive exterior of the Louis Vuitton Men’s Temporary Residency Photo Courtesy BFA dog reclining at the building’s entrance. Joe’s signature look includes a mod suit and a set of shades in the familiar black and white checkered patterns that are emblematic of the collection. Joe’s cohorts include a birdlike creature, as well as a unicorn, a green dragon, purple dinosaur and a big, smiling flower, among others. In the film, the disparate crew sets out for adventure in Paris. They then hop aboard a barge loaded with shipping containers
carrying signature Louis Vuitton trunks. Presumably, the Spring-Summer 2021 collection has been packed inside. The collection was given the name “Message in a Bottle,” a fitting ode to the theme of venturing out into the unknown. In the summer of 2020, the same could be said of every industry, not simply fashion. A few months after the film’s debut, the Zoooom with friends characters resurfaced in the live runway shows in Shanghai and
FEBRUARY 5, 2021
