This article was published on March 17, 2023 and updated March 21
Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama dropped the biggest collaboration of the year back in January 2023 and they were only just getting started. In late March, the giant team-up returns with another massive drop.
Remember that Louis Vuitton revealed in late 2022 that the collaboration comprised over 400 unique pieces so we probably only got a little over half of that with the first drop in January (though, who was counting?).
This second round of LV x Kusama includes upwards of 200 items so safe to assume this is the final release, until the two inevitably team up once again.
It's hard not to feel at least a smidge of collaborative fatigue from the expansive LV x Kusama line, right? Maybe that's just me.
Don't get me wrong, it's cool and all — this collection boasts some especially handsome leather handbags adorned with pumpkins or even shaped to resemble Kusama's beloved gourd — but you always expect good-looking product from Louis Vuitton.
Anything less would be, well, not Louis Vuitton.
But there's just soooo much stuff. I guess it gives customers a wide selection of goods to choose from.
And the scale is definitely intentional, because the Yayoi Kusama collaboration apparently figures into Louis Vuitton's Q1 2023 earnings expectations, according to Louis Vuitton exec (and child of CEO Bernard Arnault) Delphine Arnault.
Plus, with the unveiling of the second Kusama drop's accompanying campaign — which features Zhou Dongyu, Lea Seydoux, Cate Blanchett, and the fairly problematic Justin Timberlake — Louis Vuitton is clearly going for amss appeal.
But if more painted pumpkins are what you crave, Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama once again have you very well covered.
There's ample apparel on hand but the focus is on accessories, with a plethora of bags, scarves, sunglasses, bucket hats, and even fragrances dressed toe to tip in Kusama's polka dots.
Again, Kusama-ified Louis Vuitton sneakers are also available in a plethora of makes and models, sporting both polka dot motifs and Kusama's illustrative self-portraits and faces.
Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama's second collection is expected to release on March 31, presumably with an immediate launch followed by an ongoing trickle of merch arriving in stores over time.
Collaborations at this scale are likely planned irrespective of creative directors so don't necessarily expect to see this sort of thing when Pharrell, Louis Vuitton's new menswear director, shows his first menswear collection in June 2023.
Or do, perhaps, because Pharrell is quite the collaborator. I fully expect him to include some sort of artist pal in his debut line — maybe bringing Murakami back into the Louis Vuitton fold — though you can be pretty certain that Kusama will not partake.
