Louis Vuitton’s Artycapucines Stun at Paris+, and Other News

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Louis Vuitton’s Artycapucines Stun at Paris+

In 2019, Louis Vuitton asked six globally renowned artists to reimagine its coveted Capucine bag. Named after rue Neuve-de-Capucines, the Parisian street on which the French maison’s first boutique opened in 1854, the handbag lends itself well to such a challenge. Its trapezoidal build, clean lines, and calfskin leather construction easily doubles as a canvas, making it a no-brainer to let artists festoon the Capucine with their signature flair. It’s become a yearly tradition, with blue-chip names like Tschabalala Self, Urs Fischer, Alex Israel, Henry Taylor, and Jean-Michel Othoniel all participating in the annual commission.

This season’s group of creatives—Amélie Bertrand, Daniel Buren, Park Seo-Bo, Peter Marino, Ugo Rondinone, and Kennedy Yanko—is multifaceted and no less prestigious. Among the highlights is Yanko, who adapted her signature crumpled paint skins to stunning effect with, as she describes, “a rusting process that takes place using bacteria.” Marino’s studded Capucine, meanwhile, is a veritable reflection of his personal brand of head-to-toe black leather. Each limited to a run of 200, the $10,500 bags are available for purchase both online and in stores. Attendees of Paris+, the new fair helmed by the owners of Art Basel that debuted this weekend, enjoyed a retrospective in Louis Vuitton’s booth that presented this year’s crop of Artycapucines alongside their forebears. —Ryan Waddoups

Snøhetta wins the competition to transform France’s Natural History Museum of Lille. 

“Snøhetta has been tapped to lead the transformation of France’s Natural History Museum of Lille following an international competition. The project supports Lille’s ambition to redefine its university district through a program of developments, renewal, and preservation. Snøhetta says the design will enable an ‘ambitious scientific program’ for the museum while enhancing its ability to store and maintain the tens of thousands of pieces in its now 200-year-old collection. The project’s scope will reportedly entail the removal of recent extensions to the three building parts of the museum, preservation of the original facades, and addition of circulation areas and other flexible spaces inside.” [H/T Archinect]

Thanks to a partnership with WGACA, Amazon will start selling luxury fashion items.

“Forget toilet paper and TVs—starting today, you can add an Hermès Birkin to your Amazon cart. Luxury vintage purveyor What Goes Around Comes Around (WGACA) has partnered with Luxury Stores at Amazon, a series of digital storefronts from high-end brands including Missoni, Christopher Kane, and Theophilio. With the move, WGACA brings a selection of its best pre-owned designer wares—Hermès Birkins, Rolex Datejusts, and Chanel Double Flaps included—to Amazon. Amazon’s entry into the luxury resale market is huge. Not only does it bolster the company’s presence in luxury fashion, but it also sidesteps the need to enlist WGACA’s roster of labels as official partners.” [H/T Highsnobiety]

The Mastaba, Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s final artwork, will be funded through NFTs.

“Before Christo died, he asked his nephew, Vladimir Yavachev, to promise that he would finish the two last artworks designed by him and Jeanne-Claude, his wife: Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped and The Mastaba, an enormous ziggurat composed of hundreds of thousands of oil barrels stacked nearly 500 feet high. The Mastaba, once realized, would be the world’s largest sculpture and a permanent installation. Yavachev, at the CityLab conference in Amsterdam, said that it will take 410,000 multi-colored oil barrels and ten elevation towers to mount the final work on the site. To finance the project, the artists’ foundation will sell one NFT per barrel, for a maximum price of $1,000 each. But the foundation beyond mere knowledge of ownership will also offer an authentic 55-gallon oil barrel used to build the artwork, as maintenance will require the barrels to be replaced every 12 to 15 years.” [H/T Domus]

Balenciaga ends its relationship with Kanye West after he made anti-Semitic remarks.

“Balenciaga has officially ended its relationship with Ye. Balenciaga joins Gap in cutting ties with the artist and Yeezy designer formerly known as Kanye West, while Adidas recently placed its partnership under review. Since August, Ye had repeatedly criticized Gap and Adidas on Instagram for alleged breaches of their respective Yeezy ventures, singling out members of the German sportswear brand’s executive team. Ye’s bank, JP Morgan Chase, also ended its relationship with the rapper after he called out senior employees on social media. Balenciaga and its parent company Kering had initially remained quiet in the wake of the rapper’s release of a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt and anti-semitic statements that got him suspended from Instagram and Twitter.” [H/T Business of Fashion]

TikTok may soon bring China’s popular live shopping industry to the United States.

“TikTok is trying to bring a version of China’s $400 billion livestream shopping industry to the United States, according to internal company information reviewed by Semafor. The plan, a person familiar with the matter said, is part of a wider global initiative that TikTok leaders have dubbed ‘Project Aquaman.’ While Amazon, Meta, and Walmart have all previously tried and failed to replicate the success of China’s live e-commerce market, TikTok’s ambitious attempt is the first to directly borrow tactics that were first perfected in the People’s Republic. At the heart of TikTok’s strategy is a decentralized network of at least 20 “TikTok Shop Partners,” which include small Chinese social media agencies and U.S. tech startups that specialize in livestream e-commerce, like Shop LIT Live.” [H/T Semafor]

Foster + Partners completes the supertall office building 50 Hudson Yards in New York.

“Foster + Partners has completed a supertall skyscraper in New York City as part of Hudson Yards in Midtown Manhattan. Called 50 Hudson Yards, the 1,011-foot-tall skyscraper contains three million square feet of office space, including offices for Meta and investment company BlackRock. The 78-storey skyscraper acts as a gateway to Hudson Yards, taking up a full block between 34th Street and 33rd Street on the east side of the complex. 50 Hudson Yards has a stepped envelope and a symmetrical facade with floor-to-ceiling glass. Structural elements at the podium and in vertical strips that run up the facade were clad in Viscount white stone, which the studio said was ‘carefully chosen for the project.’” [H/T Dezeen]

Evans Hankey, Apple’s head of hardware design, leaves her role after three years.

“Apple’s head of hardware design, Evans Hankey, is leaving the iPhone maker three years after taking the job, creating a significant hole at the top of a company famous for its slick-looking products, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Hankey was named to the post in 2019 to replace Jony Ive, the company’s iconic design chief for two decades. Before taking her current role as vice president of industrial design, Hankey spent several years at Apple reporting to Ive.” [H/T Bloomberg]

Today’s attractive distractions:

You can win a trip and private movie night at the world’s last Blockbuster.

Highsnobiety unearths the late Virgil Abloh’s very first Instagram posts. 

Philip Buehler captures a dying New Jersey mall’s final stages of life.

Banksy’s ex is exhibiting some of the artist’s previously unseen works.