at first when i heard this, i'm quite excited. although CDG bags never really impressed me, but the clothing designs and idea are something i look upon every fashion show.
and when they finally come out with the designs.....
I..... am.... DISAPPOINTED!!!
the 2 sling bags are okay! i mean, Rei not even do anything to them, it's just a vintage bag that have the monogram sling like they used too in the old days instead of the vachetta.
But the other 2??? with multiple handles???
honestly, it looks like something you do in 5 minutes just because you have no idea what you wanna do with it.
Mini HL Customize US$1640 ; Papillon 26 Customize US$1784
from left to right, top to bottom :
party bag PM, party bag GM, petit marceau, sac 2 poche
ok, enough with my rant, here's an article and pic found from Pop magazine when i browse in TFS
Commes Des Japonaises
How did LOUIS VUITTON, the luxury brand that has always kept its distance from other fashion labels, end up collaborating with Comme des Garçons to celebrate Japan's LV obsession?
It may be famous for collaborating with artists - Stephen Sprouse, Takashi Murakami and Richard Prince have all had a go at reinventing that famous monogram print - but one thing Louis Vuitton never does is work with other fashion designers. When you've got the mighty Marc Jacobs working for you, why would you want anyone else? So when Comme des Garçons' Rei Kawakubo decided she'd quite like to take some old Vuitton bags, customise them and sell them in her stores as a special project for Christmas, the response from the French Luxury luggage house was an unequivocal non. "A Louis Vuitton-branded item has never been sold outside of a Louis Vuitton store," says Comme president and Kawakubo's husband Adrian Joffe, echoing the French house's explanation. However, Vuitton's president Yves Carcelle did take the generous step of inviting them to discuss an alternative idea: how about they co-design a bag to sell in Louis Vuitton's Tokyo stores? "Ooh, i don't know about that!" was Joffes's response.
After a bit of toing and froing, they hit on a compromise; Kawakubo would create her own take on a Vuitton store to sell six new bags. Which is what's happening right now in Comme des Garçons 'ephemeral space' on Kottodori in Omotesando, Tokyo. The chirpy little store, previously home to a scaled-down version of London's Dover street market and the tanks and flowers of Junya Watanabe's Happy army, has been created anew as Louis Vuitton as Comme des Garçons. The Kawakubo-designed interior is a Comme version of LV in-store minimalism and highlights the differences between the brands; tough concrete walls and floors contrast smooth white lacquered surfaces and gold frames. It will house an exhibition of old travel trunks and fold-out bunk beds - "vintage pieces that Rei really likes from the Vuitton archive in Arnier," says Joffe - as well as the new Comme/Vuitton bags themselves.
Two of the bags are styles that Kawakubo saw in the window when Louis Vuitton opened it's first Tokyo store in 1978 - an occasion that, 30 years on, this collaboration serves to celebrate. She has redesigned the Petit Marceau and Sac Deux Poches to look the way she remembers them, stripping them of those markers of modern-day Vuitton: "they've not got that natural sort of leather piping and handles they use now, but the brown leather they used to use." says Joffe, "and they've taken off those corner reinforcements as they didn't have those 30 years ago. So they look kind of vintage." Then there are two current Vuitton bags that Kawakubo has customised: the Papillon has been decorated with cute animal shapes and the mini HL has eight handles instead of two. Most excitingly of all, the last two are completely original bag shapes designed by Kawakubo: "they're party bags, because that's something Louis Vuitton aren't really noted fo." Plus, of course, it's nearly Christmas party season.
In a bold move, these special bags are only available to order in person in the Omotesando store betwee 6th September and 14th December; they will then be sent to customers once they've been crafted. In a global culture and instant gratification and online accessibility, that is both quaint and radical. It's also designed to avoid the undignified queues and eBay profiteering that usually greet such covetable designer objects - practices that loom especially large in Japanese consumer culture, adn when the Euro super-luxe appeal of Louis Vuitton has long attracted a particularly intense degree of obsession. "Oh, they're nuts about Louis Vuitton in Tokyo!" says Joffe. "I reckon every women between 10 and 85 in Japan has at least one Vuitton bag already. So we're hoping they'll be excited by this different take on the brand.
Of course, as everyone knows, Marc Jacobs has long been an outspoken admirer of Rei Kawakubo, with Comme des Garçons influence being evident in many of his collections for Louis Vuitton. As he says himself: "I find it wonderful to think that, 30 years ago, this immense talent, someone who has inspired so many others, was inspired by Louis Vuitton. Fashion just has a habit of coming full circle.
