LIFE IS BUT A DREAM

Written by: Jenna Delaney

Louis Vuitton celebrates the bicentennial birthday of its founder with a series of two hundred trunk-shaped installations.

A long, long time ago, in a land far away, a visionary was born and his name was Louis. From a working-class family of carpenters, farmers and milliners, hailing from the green hills of a small hamlet in eastern France, Louis was not destined for greatness, nevertheless, his journey proved to be momentous. Leaving his hometown of Anchay, aged just 13, he embarked on an arduous venture that led him to Paris. Here, Louis worked as an apprentice, learning his trade in the packing workshop of Monsieur Maréchal, before he became a personal box-maker to the city’s most elite clientele – think blue-tick-worthy, but the 1800s equivalent. An entrepreneur, an innovator, and most importantly, a dreamer, this man went on to found his own luggage empire, revolutionizing the world of luxury goods forevermore. His elevated designs are still deemed first class and continue to inspire new generations of creatives, while his iconic initials decorate fashion and accessories across the globe. He was Monsieur Louis Vuitton, and he is legendary.

This past summer marked 200 years since the birth of Louis Vuitton (born on August 4, 1821), which is just cause for one big knees-up. Of course, the Maison of Louis Vuitton is a little more sophisticated than us Sorbet folk, so celebrations are classy, creative and low-key cool. Louis would definitely approve. One of the Maison’s many initiatives to commemorate the milestone includes a series of celebratory windows that showcase creations from 200 talents and special friends of the House. Each creative was challenged to build a unique homage to Louis himself; transforming his most emblematic object into an awe inspiring installation. The blank canvas? A rectangular box resembling an original LV trunk from the 1850s, complete with its groundbreaking flat lid. Entitled ‘200 Louis,’ the project unveils trunks from talents far and wide – Gloria Steinem, BTS, and Frank Gehry are among the contributors– each displayed in a store window, ready to lure passers-by. Symbolic of desires, fears and dreams of our time, every window has a different story to tell – and for Sorbet, a special gift of our own, an exclusive look at box 45 of 200, crafted by 3D sculptor, modeler and a previous LVMH window designer, Gokcen Yuksek.

When Louis Vuitton trunks were rising to prominence in the late 1800s, so was Lewis Carroll’s enigmatic tale, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. We can picture it now…the tiny book as buried treasure among dresses, hats, shoes and toys, all packed into the iconic brown trunk. For her take on Louis Vuitton’s celebratory trunk, Yuksek takes inspiration from Carroll’s children’s tale and enables the story to, quite literally, escape from the trunk it was once packed within. A blend of Wonderland-esque curiosities and Louis Vuitton trademarks — Alice in LV monogram tights is ever-so-chic — the trunk is imaginative and playful, with something new to discover each time you glance at it; from rabbits to rainbows.

“The box has a dual message, one to celebrate Louis and his creativity, and the other the world, it’s beauty and what we need to take care of,” says Yuksek, a creative born in Turkey, raised in Chester, and currently living in London. Drawing on the ‘eat me’ cookie theme from the story, Yuksek allows Alice to grow out from the box, symbolizing our growth as humanity and the growth of the Louis Vuitton empire, as the artist continually juxtaposes the past and present. Using a mixture of mediums, plants emerge from zipped openings, with ocean life and a variety of extinct and make-believe creatures crawling among LV chess pieces and a nibbled monogram cookie. “In a reality where we can only live in a linear timeline, extinct animals like the dodo cannot be brought back to life, so it is forever locked in a black and white print,” Yuksek reveals, while the Chesire cat grins from a playing card. The mostly black and white palette mirrors an old photograph, injected with pops of color to emulate Carroll’s surreal world, which is further emphasized through his words: ‘Life is but a dream.’

One of 200 works placed in the window of an LV store, Yuksek’s installation is a must-see — the pictures cannot do it justice. A dreamy tribute to Louis, the trunk captures the founder’s wanderlust that still sits at the heart of the Maison, and it also reflects the fun, celebratory tone of the occasion. Beyond the windows, the House will mark Louis’ 200th birthday with generous donations to non profit organizations, a documentary that traces Louis’ journey, a large scale triptych of the designer painted by Alex Katz, and the highly-anticipated video game, Louis: The Game. The LV legend lives on.