Louis Vuitton taps the renowned Japanese contemporary artist for the seventh iteration of its Artycapucines collection

The Artycapucines collection is an initiative established in 2019, inviting artists from around the world to reinterpret the Capucines bag, allowing them to express their creativity on the iconic silhouette and work with the French luxury fashion house to bring their visions to life.

Takashi Murakami (Image: Rodrigo Carmuega/Louis Vuitton)

Earlier this year, Louis Vuitton celebrated its 20-year anniversary with Murakami with an extensive re-edition collection, featuring Murakami’s signature motifs, such as the Monogram Multicolore. The world was clamouring for pieces with the artist’s beloved kawaii graphics and colourful vision. And with the latest Artycapucines collection, they can have more.

Here’s everything you need to know about Takashi Murakami’s new Artycapucines designs.

Murakami presents 11 unique new pieces that officially debuted at Art Basel Paris in September. Expect kaleidoscopic, colourful embellishments on the classic bag. On the Capucines Mini Autograph, each metallic petal of Murakami’s famous rainbow-coloured flower is painstakingly hand-coated with resin, accompanied by a hand-painted ‘smiling flower’ and his autograph on the black crocodile leather body.

There are also exciting feats of artistic skill and leather craftsmanship in the faithful reproduction of his 18-metre long Dragon in Clouds Indigo Blue (2011) painting, a psychedelic masterpiece featuring 100 hand polished and hand embroidered mushroom characters, the elegant split light blue precious crocodile leather outer shell of the Capusplit BB, as well as sculpted tentacles wrapped around the iconic Capucines silhouette.

The Panda Clutch is a whimsical masterpiece with a removable shoulder strap (Image: Louis Vuitton)

It would not be a Murakami collaboration without an injection of whimsy and the Japanese artist does not disappoint with the jewel-encrusted Panda Clutch. Each piece is adorned with 6,300 hand-set strass, achieving a shimmering multicoloured effect.

Another exciting creation is the Capucines BB Golden Garden. It draws direct inspiration from Takashi Murakami’s artwork Ogata Kōrin’s Flowers (2024), which is itself an enchanting homage to Ogata Korin’s iconic chrysanthemum fan. A closer look at this gold-leaf-covered masterpiece will reveal the impressive leather marquetry behind the colourful floral renderings on the body of the bag, as well as the delicate brass side rings on the handle, crafted using a technique used principally in traditional fine watchmaking to create a translucence reminiscent of stained glass.

 

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Takashi Murakami’s addition to Louis Vuitton’s exclusive Artycapucines archives, now sitting alongside creations by fellow artists Beatriz Milhazes, Ugo Rondinone, and Zhao Zhao, are a delightful manipulation of colour, materials, and proportions—predicted to whip up even more frenzy among fans of the brand than before.