Louis Vuitton’s ties to the art world run deep. This year, the fashion house dropped capsules with icons like South Korean painter Park Seo-bo and American artist Tyler the Creator, drawing connections between performance, fashion, and fine art. Launching the new Louis Vuitton ‘Trainer in Residence,’ the Maison adds two new artists to its palette: Zhou Yilun and Wen Na.
The drop, officially called “White Canvas: LV Trainer in Residence,” includes two designs from each artist. Given the LV Trainer — an all-white, low-top affair — as a canvas, Zhou Yilun and Wen Na used the capsule as an opportunity to experiment, bringing their respective styles to a new format. Their paints dance across the trainer, infusing stylish footwear with a colourful splash of creativity.
Born in Hangzhou, China, Zhou Yilun time-travels by paintbrush, skillfully subverting and synthesizing techniques from the Baroque, Romantic, and Renaissance eras to develop his own practice. Through his work, he repositions everyday items as objects of intrigue; a fitting partner, then, for the LV Trainer.
Yilun’s designs drip with colour. The first glows with vivid orange and black marks; the second is cast in vibrant shades of pink and blue. Named “42.5°C” and “-8.6°C,” respectively, Yilun aims to draw attention to climate change. Free-flowing hues pour over the shoes, saturating the silhouette with kinetic energy. The designs capture the essence of an artist’s palette, where dried splashes and stains feel both curated and accidental; they’re bursting with the dynamic pulse of an art studio.
Wen Na, meanwhile, uses wide strokes to create two sneakers that cast the LV Trainer in an entirely new light: “Wave” and “Cloud.” Since painting her first mural in 2010, the artist has taken inspiration from Chinese culture and images. With contemporary murals, illustrations, and even ceramic sculptures, she brings traditional methods into the modern age.
“Wave” paints the trainers with a mural of movement. Rolling waves wash down the upper and up the heel, constructing an illusion of perpetual motion. Elsewhere, deity patterns embellish “Cloud,” infusing the exterior with heritage. For Wen Na, “Cloud” represents a sense of freedom, mimicking the almost-mystical wanderlust that a good shoe will bring. Hand-painted in Fiesso d’Artico — Louis Vuitton’s Italian footwear atelier — each pair carries the air of creativity.
The new Louis Vuitton Trainers launched in select Chinese stores on Monday, with a release at Louis Vuitton’s Paris Galeries Lafayette store to follow on December 1, 2024.
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