Louis Vuitton X Drake Collaboration

Louis Vuitton’s long-standing reputation for iconic collaborations dates back to collections featuring contemporary, era-important names like Takashi Murakami, Yayoi Kusama, Stephen Sprouse, and most recently, sculptor Jeff Koons. But the idea of collaborative work with a non-visual artist is quite unfamiliar, the closest project being Kanye West’s capsule collection in 2009, which featured the artistic, design side of a recognized musical artist.

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It seems transcendent; two industries whose greatest influencers rely heavily on each other for inspiration—music on fashion, fashion on music—finally have an actual collaboration in the Men’s Spring Summer 18 show. Drake announced his new song “Signs” on Instagram one day before the collected walked runway, citing Kim Jones’ collection as the lyrical inspiration. The collection itself follows the highly successfully Supreme collaboration of the Fall Winter show, and features colorful Hawaiian shirts, neoprene bombers, bucket hats, and sandals to overemphasize the sensations of “vacation.”

The show itself is an exciting display of two industry giants working in collaboration, but can be further understood as an indicator of how we can soon expect to consume mainstream culture. There is an integration of industries that has only been made more prevalent with the overly-credited rise of social media and digital press, if this is not one of the most relevant examples. Drake solidifies his position in the world of luxury fashion, while Louis Vuitton maintains it’s ability to stay culturally important in the modern day without losing sight of it’s 1854 heritage.