Pierre-Louis Vuitton, head of savoir faire at Louis Vuitton, on the LV Monogram
The design has appeared in collaborations with Takashi Murakami and Yayoi Kusama – and been used widely by men’s creative director Pharrell Williams
When does a logo stop being just a logo? The LV monogram, as Louis Vuitton’s gilded initials are known, has become a “neutral”, a multifaceted pattern that goes with everything and anything.
Embossed on one of the label’s bestselling bags or printed on a silk shirt as part of a chic ensemble, the LV monogram is one of those ubiquitous status symbols that rarely pass unnoticed. From the hip-hop community to first-time luxury consumers and seasoned lovers of the finer things in life, devotees of the LV monogram span generations and backgrounds – making it one of the most widely copied emblems in the history of fashion.
Pierre-Louis Vuitton, a descendant of the founding family who has been working at the house since 2004, says that the monogram’s versatility is something that Georges, Louis Vuitton’s son, envisioned when he introduced it 130 years ago. In 1896, Georges Vuitton came up with the idea of a canvas printed with the LV initials and a floral pattern, to create a signature for the maison and ward off the many copies flooding the market even back then.
“At the beginning of the 20th century, Georges mentioned that the LV canvas could be used in different sizes, colours and raw materials,” Pierre-Louis says in an interview. “It was visionary of him to see that it was not just a canvas but a monogram [suitable for] different materials, sizes and colours. So at the beginning of the 21st century, we started to transform the canvas with collaborations [with the likes of] Takashi Murakami and Yayoi Kusama.”
While Georges couldn’t have predicted how much those LV-emblazoned creations would change the world of branding – eventually giving rise to modern luxury as we know it – he knew that a logo, no matter how established, is not a fixed entity, but an asset that can be reimagined and reinterpreted while still retaining its essence.
