BRAND BUZZ : LOUIS VUITTON AND THE ICONOCLASTS

The Louis Vuitton brand and its LV monogram are among the world's most valuable of its kind. In fact, it is the world's 29th most recognized and valuable brand. It's no wonder that the brand carries instant status power for those who wear it. Perhaps that helps explain why it is one of the most counterfeited brands in the world. Ironically, the signature monogram design was actually created to prevent counterfeit. (References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Vuitton#cite_)

As a part of their 160th anniversary celebration the house of LV has launched a brilliant collection and campaign enlisting some of the world's most skilled designers including: Karl Lagerfeld, Frank Gehry, Marc Newson, Rei Kawakubo, Cindy Sherman and Christian Louboutin. The ICONOCLASTS were asked to create original interpretations utilizing the iconic Louis Vuitton monogram design. The campaign includes behind-the-scenes videos showing the designers at work and a series of photo stories of their final pieces interpreted by 6 photographers. 

The Iconoclasts

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN FOR LOUIS VUITTON 

Legendary French shoe designer that created the iconic "red bottom" concept.

KARL LAGERFELD FOR LOUIS VUITTON

German fashion designer and iconic artist

most commonly known as the head creative director of Chanel.

CINDY SHERMAN FOR LOUIS VUITTON

Cindy Sherman is an American photographer and film maker who 

is known for selling the most expensive photograph ever.

FRANK GEHRY FOR LOUIS VUITTON

Canadian-American architect known for creating some of the most

important modern architectural works of all time.

MARC NEWSON FOR LOUIS VUITTON

Legendary industrial designer 

REI KAWAKUBO FOR LOUIS VUITTON

Japanese fashion designer, founder of Comme des Garçons.

We recently spotted the collection at Bal Harbour Shoppes in Miami. Limited styles and quantities will be available throughout the world for the same price of a down-payment for a mid-sized home. If that's too rich for your blood, you can humor yourself by getting a glimpse of them (and perhaps even touch) at a local luxury department store (like Neimans, Saks or a flagship LV store) as if you were going to a museum… its worth the effort.  #CertifiedCOOL

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SHOP THE EDIT: LOUIS VUITTON

TREND TALK : TYPE TAKEOVER

As a designer, I work with typography every day. Typography is the art and technique of arranging letters to make language visible. How well a designer works with typography is the difference between a great designer and a not-so-good one. Needless to say, I love typography. That's the reason my heart skips a beat when I see the use of typography in surprising ways.

We're noticing that the use of typography is popping up in unconventional places like in fashion, industrial and interior design. Letters are so graphic and have such a wide array of forms that make it virtually impossible to ignore the wonderful opportunities to make objects, furniture, clothing, wall treatments and more.

I've selected a series of COOL uses of typography in design including: The Dharma Lounge Chair by Palette Industries; This Will Destroy You shoe by Anastasia Radevich; The AAKKOSET Shelf by the amazing Ugandan designer Lincoln Kayiwa; Font Tables by Alessandro Canepa and Andrea Paulicell; and Little Factory's laser cut scarf.

Type nerds rejoice!!!

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GEEK CHIC : LIGHT PICTURES

Happy Friday! This is a feature I am so excited to share. I just love great ideas! Jirko Bannas, product designer and master craftsman and Oliver Seltmann, creative director have created a works of art called light pictures. These genius creations are sturdy ultra-flat, LED backlit large format photos. Oversimplified: Its like a super oversized photo that glows. I love the newest addition of the product line, POLABOY®, which is an oversized polaroid. I can't believe no one has done this before. Its so simple but brilliant. Imagine a polaroid as tall as you. The full product line also includes LIGHTWALLS® and ROOF TOP LIGHTS®. All of the light pictures can be customized with your own photo or you can choose from the ones in the product line. As you can imagine they aren't cheap, but I think they're worth it for about $3000 - $6000 a piece. Check out their website http://polaboy.de for ordering and product information. Light pictures definitely have major COOL factor. 

See more COOL features on our blog THAT'S COOL. Just click and scroll down.