Few brands command the balance between art and luxury quite like Louis Vuitton. With the unveiling of the Artycapucines VII collection, the maison celebrates the boundless potential of creative dialogue by partnering with acclaimed Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. Known for his kaleidoscopic universe that merges manga-inspired imagery with fine art finesse, Murakami brings his distinctive aesthetic to one of Vuitton’s most recognisable silhouettes—the Capucines.
This collaboration marks the seventh edition of the Artycapucines project, a continuing journey that invites contemporary artists to reinterpret the house’s iconic bag through their unique artistic lens. Since its inception in 2019, the series has become a cultural phenomenon, demonstrating how fashion can serve as a medium of art and how art can exist within the everyday.
Panda Clutch
The Panda Clutch is inspired by Murakami’s iconic Panda character, a recurring denizen of the artist’s kaleidoscopic ‘Superflat Monogram’ universe, originally created in collaboration with the House in 2003. Crafted from silver-toned brass, the metallic contours of the clutch’s main body echo the enchanting spirit of the character it embodies. A fusion of Murakami’s artistic vision and the House’s traditional savoir-faire, each clutch is adorned with 6,250 hand-set strass, introducing a shimmering multicoloured effect to complete this dazzling feat of creativity. The Panda Clutch also features a removeable interlocking precious metal-chain which becomes the bag’s stunning shoulder strap, and is offered in a limited-and-numbered-edition.
Capusplit BB
The Capusplit BB transforms Louis Vuitton’s iconic classic Capucines bag into a double-layered piece. The outer shell in light blue crocodile leather unveils an internal panel in vibrant ‘Monogram Multicolore’ upon a white lambskin leather main body, and finished with a white metallic LV signature, a nod to the iconic pattern, originally created in collaboration with Louis Vuitton for the House’s Spring/Summer 2003 runway collection, and is presented in a limited-and-numbered-edition.
Capucines Mini Autograph
The centrepiece of this Capucines Mini bag is a reproduced Takashi Murakami autograph, accompanied by the artist’s signature ‘smiling flower’ motif. Both components are faithfully rendered in delicate multi-coloured hand painting upon the bag’s exceptional main body which is crafted using finest black crocodile leather for a subtly lustrous finish. The Capucines’ LV signature sits within a rainbow-coloured flower motif which recalls the Flower Go Walk Color, a Murakami-designed portable ‘smiling flower’ game, itself inspired by early digital-age handheld games from the 1990s. Positioned at the top of the Capucines Mini’s front panel, each of the flower’s different coloured metallic petals is meticulously hand-coated in vibrant resin. At the flower’s centre, the LV signature transforms into a smiley face thanks to a lenticular ‘flip’ effect, providing the bag with an additional sensation of coming alive while reacting to movement. By opening up the flap closure of the Capucines Mini Autograph, the inside of the bag reveals the iconic ‘Monogram Multicolore’ pattern onto the inner lining, and presented in a limited-and-numbered-edition.
Capucines BB Golden Garden
This bag draws direct inspiration from Takashi Murakami’s artwork Ogata Kōrin’s Flowers (2024), the artist’s enchanting homage to Ogata Korin’s iconic chrysanthemum fan designs. The bag showcases five different textures of leather marquetry, each one crafted to depict different-coloured shades of the artist’s jubilant floral renderings and signature ‘smiling flower’ motifs, placed upon a radiant gold-leaf-covered main leather body. The bag gets gold-toned metal handle. A unique savoirfaire technique used principally in traditional fine watchmaking is deployed to craft the inner sections of the handle’s brass side rings to create a magical translucence reminiscent of stained glass: brass filigree is laser-cut into additional blooming ‘smiling flower’ motifs, each petal hand-painted with ultra-fine white and red enamel, and comes in a limited-and-numbered-edition.
Capucines EW Rainbow
This Capucines EW bag is reinterpreted to take the whimsical form and vibrant palette of Takashi Murakami’s iconic Rainbow Flower motif. Both the construction and dimensions of the Capucines’ modern East-West silhouette are transformed by sculpting thermoformed leather into the main body’s rainbow shape which is then overlaid with mink fur. Each of the rainbow motif’s seven petals is fashioned in a different vivid colour tone. The flower is also adorned with metallic eyes and a mouth, delicately embroidered onto the mink to become refined embellishments. The front side of the Capucines EW Rainbow is a resplendent smiley face while the reverse side is a charming sleeping face. The bag’s white leather handle as well as its gold-coloured side rings and LV signature offer an elegantly pared-back contrast to the kaleidoscopic main body, and come in a limited-and-numbered-edition.
Capucines Mini Mushroom
More than 100 vibrant mushroom characters are crafted using 3D resin printing before being hand polished for a lustrous finish. Each piece is delicately hand embroidered onto the silver mirrored canvas of the bag’s main body, a feat of craftsmanship that requires almost 10 hours. A sculptural textured handle adorned with additional mushroom figures complete the bag, while mini eyes details embellished the bag’s LV signature, as well as onto the pockets in the bag’s interior, and is presented in a limited-and-numbered-edition.
Capucines Mini Tentacle
Entangled by tentacles, the Capucines Mini Tentacle draws inspiration from Takashi Murakami’s 2017 sculptural work DOBtobus, which transformed the artist’s iconic ‘alter ego’ Mr. DOB into a playful octopus. The bag’s seven sculptural tentacles; six of which extend around the main body, while the seventh takes the form of the bag’s handle are composed of more than 450 individual elements and require 75 days of meticulous construction and assembly. The core red-and-pink body of each tentacle is crafted out of colourful vibrant resin using a bespoke precision moulding process, while individual blue-and-white resin suckers are then painted and polished before being hand-applied onto the tentacles. The Capucines Mini Tentacle bag is crafted from finest smooth calfskin leather, and is adorned with an LV signature in lacquered, red-toned brass, and is presented in a limited-and-numbered-edition.
Capubloom
The whimsical Capubloom is an emotive portable sculpture which draws its inspiration from Takashi Murakami’s iconic sculptural work Flower Matango (2007) which was famously exhibited in the Palace of Versailles’ spectacular Hall of Mirrors in 2010. This bag gets a sphere with smiling flowers in 3D relief which are presented in over 115 different candy-coloured shades. The flowers’ 133 design components are shaped out of colourful vibrant resin using a bespoke precision moulding process, then hand-applied to the bag’s spherical resin surface. The ‘smiling flower’ motif extends to the underside of the bag in the form of a golden-toned protective stud in metal. Inside, the bag reveals a metallic-silver leather pouch, an additional and removeable second bag in itself, and is presented in a limited-and-numbered-edition.
Capucines XXL Camo
For the very first time, the Capucines’ dimensions are disproportionately reconfigured to unveil an oversize and unisex new interpretation of the Louis Vuitton icon. Sleek yet bold, the Capucines XXL Camo showcases a khaki washed-denim exterior surface featuring a distinctive ‘skull-in-camouflage’ pattern created using intricate jacquard techniques and inspired by Takashi Murakami’s recurring TIME (2009) artwork motif. The bag’s side rings are reshaped into skulls using a high-definition cutting process and finished with aged gold-tone metal. As a nod to the collection’s origins, the Louis Vuitton signature is engraved into a metallic plaque that sits on a red leather panel on the bag’s reverse side, recalls the ‘Monogramouflage’, a central motif within Takashi Murakami’s initial collaborations with the House in the early 2000s. The bag is completed by an adjustable handle, in finest black calfskin leather, for an over-theshoulder carry which brings a fashion attitude and modern silhouette, and is presented in a limited-and-numbered-edition.
Capucines EW Dragon
The Capucines EW Dragon is inspired by the largest known artwork by Takashi Murakami – the painting entitled Dragon in Clouds Indigo Blue (2011), comprised of nine panels and measuring 18m long. For the first time in the Capucines’ history, an extra-wide East-West bag silhouette with reconfigured dimensions has been exclusively designed in order to accommodate an entire small-scale replica rendering of the original artwork across its exterior surface. The intricate cloud-and-dragon painting – with its frenetic swirls and imposing dragon claws – is faithfully reproduced using a blue and beige high-definition inkjet print on porcelain-like leather. The sculptural handle and LV signature are designed to evoke the dragon’s scales in the painting, are sculpted out of silver-toned brass, and additional hand-applied enamel details, requiring four hours of precision work, create an ombré effect that transitions from blue to grey. Inside the oversize bag reveals a mesmerizing inner lining that features specific depictions reproduced from the original painting, and is presented in a limited-and-numbered-edition.
Capucines MM Eye
This playful Capucines draws its inspiration from Takashi Murakami’s Mr. DOB Original Edition (2016). The characters’ facial features are now further abstracted when assembled onto the bag’s pale-pink Taurillon-leather main body, with the unexpected placement of a yellow dot nose and an eye on its front panel, and a mouth on the reverse side, each reproduced in embossed smooth leather and embellished with sparkles. The Capucines MM Eye is further sported with a swirling tentacle as its handle and a circular ear which protrudes from the top left side of the bag , both created using a cutting-edge 3D resin printing technique before being polished and lacquered by hand. The bag also includes a hidden accessory: a round pocket mirror featuring a digitally printed closed-eye motif on its reverse side is concealed behind the main leather eye component, and is attached to the bag’s front panel via a metallic chain. Lastly, the bag’s inner lining features a surprising and surreal assembly of multiple green eye details, and is presented in a limited-and-numbered-edition.
