Luxury as Art In the Immersive Louis Vuitton x Takashi Murakami Pop-Up
Louis Vuitton's Takashi Murakami collaboration revives a landmark moment in LV history, yanking one of the great Marc Jacobs moments of luxury out of 2002 and into the present. To commemorate one of 2025's big luxury moments, if not one of 2025's regular ol' big moments, Louis Vuitton launched a Murakami-themed pop-up to lavish in it all.
Taking over Louis Vuitton's NYC event space on Green Street, the LV x Murakami pop-up is a suitably celebration of a suitably indulgent collection, packed with familiar logo-laden leather goods that pedestal Murakami's inimitable rainbow LV monogram.
It'd be pretty tough to get every single item on display at the pop-up — such is the case with a 150-piece lineup — but LV makes up for volume with ample artistic imaginings of the collaborative motifs.
For instance, Murakami's ever-marketable flowers have been reborn as cushion seats planted in front of looping footage showing the Zendaya-starring campaign while a gashapon-style machine, reflective of how Murakami's creations reimagine notions of Japanese youth, dispenses plastic spheres containing collectible LV x Murakami charms .
All while a barista slings coffee in LV x Murakami paper cups, perhaps the most attainable Louis Vuitton item in the world (especially when compared to Louis Vuitton's own coffee cups).
There are also archival LV x Murakami goods on display, allowing guests to compare and contrast now and then. Seems like so much has changed, and yet...
Really, the LV x Murakami popup feels far more like those ever-popular immersive "museums" than a luxury showroom, which is a testament to LV's mastery of populist delights. This is art as luxury, luxury as art, and both as livable commerce.
The Takashi Murakami collaboration is Louis Vuitton's second major revival of a prior artist partnership, following 2022's expansive Yayoi Kusama team-up.
And, like that collection, LV's Murakami offering has proven commercially fruitful — Highsnobiety learned that the LV x Murakami launch drove record-breaking profits for the maison.
Surprising? Not really. But inarguable proof that LV knows what the people want.
