The relationship between fashion, luxury and art is no longer merely an aesthetic exercise or a marketing flourish. It has become a cultural bond that reshapes identities, strategies and imaginaries. From the iconic collaborations of the early 2000s to today’s initiatives that bring together craftsmanship, performance and museums, the dialogue between these worlds has grown structural. In Lineapelle Magazine, we explore this transformation through three complementary perspectives: the historical evolution of the phenomenon, its symbolic and economic dimension, and finally a case study that is rewriting the rules of the game.
The relationship between fashion, luxury and art
For more than twenty years, the bond between art and luxury has undergone a profound metamorphosis. In the article “Fashion and art: a (steadily growing) form of cultural activation”, we trace the first collaborations, starting with Dom Pérignon and Jeff Koons in 2003. At the time, these were sporadic ventures, often perceived as mere stylistic exercises. Today, by contrast, they represent a genuine engine of cultural activation. Bernstein’s report, for instance, shows how major luxury groups invest in restorations, museums, performances, architecture and special collections to build symbolic capital that goes beyond the product.
LVMH leads the way, followed by Kering and Chanel, in a context where art becomes an enhanced form of luxury: a language capable of legitimising value, identity and desire. This is not merely an economic issue. It is a way of becoming culturally relevant, of leaving a mark over time, of aspiring — as we write in “Fashion, art and their shared aspiration to become eternal” — to endure. Art thus offers luxury a dimension of transcendence, while luxury provides art with a global platform.
Murakami x Louis Vuitton
In the third article, “Vuitton and Murakami: the new level of a textbook collaboration”, we delve into an emblematic example: the twenty-year relationship between the French maison and Takashi Murakami, recently brought back into the spotlight with the seventh edition of the Artycapucines project. The appearance of a giant octopus at the Grand Palais during Art Basel marked yet another chapter in what has become an iconic dialogue. For the first time, Murakami worked in a fully immersive way with the maison’s savoir-faire, creating eleven reinterpretations of the Capucines bag that distil manga, geek culture, collectability and pop imagery. It is one of those collaborations that demonstrates how fashion and art do not compete, but rather amplify one another — and how luxury, when it encounters an artist capable of building entire worlds, can turn an accessory into a cultural experience.
To read the other articles in Lineapelle Magazine, click here.
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