The Wonderful World of the New Bond Street Maison Louis Vuitton

17 - 20 New Bond Street, London W1
Store Hours: Monday-Saturday: 10am to 7pm
Sunday: 12 midday to 6pm

On Wednesday, Butters and I were invited on down to New Bond Street for a sneaky peek at the new Louis Vuitton Maison, which opens its doors to the British shopper (and visiting Russian) at large today. And my god what a Maison it is. To mark the French house's 125-year association with this side of the Channel, they really pulled out all the stops, making the most of their many and fruitful relationships with the art world. The New Bond Street Maison ranges over three floors and encompasses 1500 square metres of retail space, officially the most luxurious Louis Vuitton store to date, worldwide.

window fabulousness: each of the store's seven windows has a neon word to reflect the display such as "Obsession," "Temptation" and "Accumulation:

hardbound book in lieu of press release!

To design the project, Louis Vuitton enlisted New York-based architect Peter Marino, who has worked on previous Louis Vuitton stores including the Champs-Elysées Maison. The store, rife with exquisite and tremendously valuable pieces of contemporary art, is conceived as the home of a collector who loves only the best and rarest (and a bit of monogram canvas and the odd tribal masked platform shoe). The works include both original artworks from well-known names including, Richard Prince and Takashi Murakami, and exclusive products specially designed for the store.

So without further ado, the tour....

GROUND FLOOR

Saturn like "planets" sculpture by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami

When you enter the store over a bridge, to your immediate right is a special installation of vintage LV trunks hanging suspended in the air, already you are caught off guard, feeling you've just walked into a gallery as opposed to hunting down a new wallet, which is perfect for me as my gallerist boyfriend, for once, will have something to do whilst I feast on footwear.

The ground floor is devoted to accessories...complete with moving display walls! Willy Wonka and the Neverfull factory!! This "Bag Bar" comes complete with leather stools upon which costumers can perch and order clutches like they were cocktails. There are separate, circular zones for costume jewellery and sunglasses, and a private client room next to the fine jewellery area.

moving wall of bags

moving wall of scarves

FIRST FLOOR

The first floor is devoted to womenswear and shoes, in several intimate areas with generous and luxurious changing rooms. Also here is the unique Librairie which will showcase the best of British contemporary Art Books and bespoke commissions by artists including Anish Kapoor, Chris Ofili and Gary Hume. 

Upon topping the stairs, costumers are confronted with what was my favorite part of the new store, a temporary exhibition curated by Katie Grand bringing together and mixing up all of Marc Jacobs' designs for Louis Vuitton ready-to-wear collections from the past 13 years. Mannequins with speedies for heads styled in oodles of popping bits of color, fabulous foxes and major big-ticket statement items from LV runway shows past.

The first floor also features three areas of the latest collections of the ready-to-wear pieces and two areas for shoes, including a display of special evening shoes made from precious skins to accompany the House's minaudiere evening bags. The merchandising was spectacular, perhaps the enormously valuable pieces of art hanging on the walls somehow mitigated the museum-like quality of the clothes themselves, making the browsing experience a shoppable and non-threatening one despite the killer price tags.

dressing rooms the size of my flat

LOWER GROUND FLOOR

Downstairs is the "Man Universe" at the center of which is the men's club area where customers and their guests can relax. The club area is an example of architect Peter Marino's "residential" style with relaxing sofas and low tables while the carefully chosen 2005 artworks PAWS by Gilbert and George dominates the scene. 

ARTWORK

Staircase: 23 square meters of glass tread surface which includes LEDs to show frequently changing film and artistic animations

At the Maison, art is presented in fresh ways. The artworks on display in the Maison represent both London's thriving local art scene and some of the House's most frequent collaborators. To celebrate Turner Prize winner Chris Ofili's current retrospective at Tate Britain, LV  asked him to create a special work inspired by poems written by young London-based performance poets. There is also a temporary sculpture commissioned for the store by London-based conceptual artist Michael Landy, one of the YBA generation and best known for destroying all his possessions. 

In the circular costume jewellery area on the ground floor is a sculpture entitled "KIKI" by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami who collaborated with Marc Jacobs in 2003. The fine jewellery area features two paintings by American artist Richard Prince, friend of Marc Jacobs and frequent collaborator including designing the Joke bags in 2008. In the men's universe downstairs, an enormous self-portrait by Gilbert and George called PAWS, 2005 hangs in the club area. And an LV trunk-inspired "Medical Cabinet" sits in the first floor library designed by Damien Hirst.

Gilbert and George PAWS, 2005

Michael Landy's creation

Landy's creation for the Maison is inspired by Swiss kinetic artist Jean Tinguely

one for the road...

The windows reflect the overall theme of the "Collector" and show what an eccentric British collector might posses if they had been a collection of LV over the years and perhaps inherited some pieces. Clearly a frog fanny pack is one such piece.