A brief history of the Louis Vuitton x Takashi Murakami collaboration

It’s 2003. One Tree Hill just premiered, Beyoncé’s Crazy in Love sits at number one in the charts, Gisele Bündchen just became the highest paid model in the world and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are about to headline Coachella. Waistlines are low, eyebrows are thin and lips are permanently glossed.

As It-girls dash around New York, LA and London, the paparazzi capture their every move. They have several things in common: blonde highlights, sunglasses that cover half their face and notably, a limited edition Louis Vuitton handbag in white, featuring the classic monogram yet in multicolour form, made up of pink, turquoise, yellow and kelly green. The bag of the decade was born.

Over two decades ago, the Louis Vuitton x Murakami collaboration flew off shelves, which it did again just last month, when it came back with a bang. Now, news of the second drop has landed. The immensely popular cherry blossom style is being relaunched and will go on sale next month, as announced today (February 27). To celebrate the reedition, we take a trip back in time to chart the history of one of fashion’s most iconic collaborations.

As a brand, Louis Vuitton is a whopping 171 years old. Founded in 1854, for almost 150 of those years, it was known predominantly as a luxury luggage manufacturer. Everything changed in 1997 when Marc Jacobs was hired as creative director and subsequently introduced ready-to-wear for the first time in the brand’s history. Jacobs was – and still is – one of the most exciting and surprising designers of the moment. Prior to Vuitton, he’d studied at Parsons and spent a brief stint working for Perry Ellis, where he showed his controversial grunge collection.

At LV, Jacobs produced some of the most memorable catwalk moments in fashion history. From the steam train at AW12, to the escalator twins at SS13. When Pharrell was appointed creative director of Louis Vuitton men’s in 2023, he even described the brand as “the house that [Marc] built”, and while ready-to-wear marked a whole new chapter for LV, the status and desirability of those monogrammed bags never dwindled.

Jacobs is a passionate art collector and worked with several artists during his time at Louis Vuitton. In 2001, he introduced a game-changing graffiti collab with New York artist Stephen Sprouse. It was a huge moment for the LV monogram, which had previously never been altered in any way. The rebellious partnership sold out immediately, as did the later released leopard print accessories. The success of the graffitied bags prompted a string of artist collaborations; Jacobs tapped modern art legends Cindy Sherman, Yayoi Kusama and Richard Prince, but before them and after Stephen Sprouse, came Takashi Murakami.

Of all his artist partnerships at Vuitton, Jacobs describes his collaboration with Murakami as his favourite to date. Known for his animé-inspired artwork that blends traditional Japanese motifs with contemporary pop elements, today Murakami is known globally as a master of modern art. Before working with Vuitton, Murakami had worked briefly with Issey Miyake men’s, though it was the immense popularity of the LV link-up that lifted the artist to celebrity status. In Paris, the collection sold out in a matter of hours. In New York, desperate shoppers added their names to a 7,000-name waiting list and on resale websites sellers doubled the original price. To say it was a success would be an understatement.

In 2009, Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum even staged an exhibition showcasing the LV x Murakami collection. “Our collaboration has produced a lot of works, and has been a huge influence and inspiration to many,” said Marc Jacobs at the time. “It has been, and continues to be, a monumental marriage of art and commerce. The ultimate crossover – one for both the fashion and art history books.”

Not only did it find a place in museums and exhibitions, but on the arm of everyone who was anyone during the early 00s. Britney, Madonna, Paris Hilton, Naomi Campbell, Lindsay Lohan, Lil’Kim and Jessica Simpson are just a few of the stars that owned it, meanwhile fictional characters were fans too – take Mean Girls’ Regina George, for example. In the 2004 comedy White Chicks, the characters even held fakes due to budget constraints. It dominated in the streets as well as on our screens, making it a pop culture phenomenon.

There’s a common belief that fashion comes back around every 20 years, so it was somewhat expected that the 00s would have a second wind during the 2020s. Less expected, was the force with which it came crashing back into our lives. Y2K fashion has populated catwalks for the past two years. Designers such as Dsquared2, Blumarine, Diesel, Knwls, Area and even Marc Jacobs’ own Heaven, have all contributed to the 00s revival, while on resale sites, the Depop girlies are flogging 20-year-old Forever 21 hotpants for close to $300. We’ve seen the revival of low-waisted jeans, baby tees and even flip phones, so it was only right that the true star of the 00s, the LV x Murakami collection, made a comeback too.

22 years after the original drop, 2025 has welcomed the relaunch of Louis Vuitton’s Murakami collection, with reissues of both the original bags, plus new additions such as scrunchies, belts, trainers, scarves, wallets and sunglasses. In London, a pop-up shop opened in Soho where Dazed Club hosted an event celebrating the reigning influence of the collection, while around the world, major cities got their own pop-ups too. Though Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan might have been the unofficial faces of the 2003 campaign, the 2025 campaign is fronted by none other than Zendaya. “I definitely think it’s thanks to the people on the receiving end, especially the hip-hop artists, who continue to love my collaboration with Louis Vuitton, and that made it a very good timing to refresh it,” said Murakami in a statement released by the brand.

Almost all the pieces from the relaunch were snapped up immediately, but now, a second wave is coming in the form of the LV Murakami Cherry Blossom reissue. That’s right, Regina George’s favourite bag – adorned with perfect pink cherry blossoms – is back, launched with a campaign fronted again by Zendaya and shot by Inez and Vinoodh. “This campaign for Louis Vuitton × Murakami chapter two continues the era-hopping celebration of both the reedition collection’s contemporary relevance and the original collaboration’s status as a seminal moment in 21st-century fashion, collector and popular culture,” said the brand in a statement. 

Timed perfectly with Japan’s cherry blossom season, the collection will be pre-launched online from March 14, before it hits stores on March 21. The cherry blossom design will feature over 40 new pieces, from Papillion bags to the Courrier Lozine 110 Fleurs trunk. The floral motif also features across perfumes and is seen on two classic Vuitton bags, the Capucines Mini and the OnTheGo bag in monogram canvas.

The popularity of this pairing over the past 20 years has cemented its status as one of the most covetable and recognisable fashion collaborations of the 21st century. It already went down in history once and it’s about to do the same again. Judging by the buzz surrounding the cherry blossom pieces, this second drop might even set a new record for LV, so mark your calendars now.

The Louis Vuitton x Murakami collection will be available here.