WHEN NEW YORK DARLING Marc Jacobs took the reins at Louis Vuitton in 1997, he brought the brand into the fashion runway world with its first ready-to-wear collection. Over his 16 year tenure, he continued to bring the firsts, including collaborating with the likes of artists such as Takashi Murakami, the Japanese artist known for his joyful happy faces and New York-based Stephen Sprouse, who took the revered LV logo and amplified it as a graffiti esque graphic. It was a reimagining of a monogram that had been ensconced since the founder, Louis Vuitton, first stamped it on his steamer trunks in 1896.
Takashi Murakami’s whimsy for LV x TM On The Go Chapter 2 Sakura motif bag. Photo: Louis Vuitton
Fast forward to right now, where another visionary, Pharrell Williams, Louis Vuitton’s current creative director and powerhouse musician and record producer, has revived the collab content. In the recent Spring/Summer 2026 menswear shows, he brought back Jacobs’ luggage designs that were first created for Wes Anderson’s 2007 film The Darjeeling Limited.
The pattern is inspired by “present day sartorialism,” according to the House, but the appeal of the elephants, palm trees, big cats and other flora and fauna motif dancing across the tanned calfskin is universal. It’s as joyfully quirky as an Anderson film itself – imagine the Whitman brothers, played by Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman, running for the train, luggage swinging wildly at their sides. Fitting, perhaps, as LVMH has also revived the Venice-Simplon Orient Express, operated by Belmond.
Sporting The Darjeeling Limited patterned luggage and the LV Tilted sneaker at the Louis Vuitton men’s S/S 26 show. Photo: Louis Vuitton
Speaking of running, this spring’s designs are not limited to luggage. We’re all about the Tilted sneaker, the essence of the low-profile runner everyone is after this season. In retro suedes or appearing embellished or in the same Darjeeling pattern, the sneaks go as well with a suit as they do with board shorts.
The new low-profile LV Tilted sneaker. Photo: Louis Vuitton
As a renowned patron of the arts, Louis Vuitton is also presenting exhibitions. The first, LV Dream: Louis Vuitton Art Deco, is a nod to the 100th anniversary of the 1925 Paris International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts showing. Through eight rooms, more than 300 heritage objects and archival materials are revealed by way of themes, from the Jazz Age to Beauty in Travel, many that have never been shown in public before. The show runs through late 2026, at 26 Quai de la Mégisserie, in Paris.
“La Beauté en voyage” room at the Louis Vuitton Art Déco & LV Dream Exhibit in Paris. Photo: Louis Vuitton
The second focusses on the artist Jeff Koons, who collaborated with the House for his Louis Vuitton x Jeff Koons “Masters” collection, first seen in 2017. Espace Louis Vuitton Osaka – Jeff Koons: Paintings and Banality, shows selected works from the collection. It also celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Espaces Louis Vuitton, with global outposts in Tokyo, Munich, Venice, Beijing, Seoul and Osaka, and the 10th anniversary of Fondation Louis Vuitton’s Hors-les-murs programme. It runs through July 5, 2026, in Osaka, Japan. Joyeux anniversaire, LV!
