Photo Credit: Courtesy of Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton has recently launched their latest — and quite luxurious — literary venture, Louis Vuitton Skin: Architecture of Luxury, published by Assouline. The book serves as an extensive exploration of Louis Vuitton’s facades called – the “skin” in architectural parlance – by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Paul Goldberger. The ultra-chic coffee table book takes readers on an exhilarating world tour of the Maison’s most distinctive stores, from Sao Paulo to Seoul, Miami to Mexico City. Known for its bespoke city guides, the book visits Louis Vuitton locations that collectively form what Goldberger calls “the most radical rethinking of the concept of brand identity in our time.”
Architecture has played an integral role within the Louis Vuitton identity as the Maison has commissioned significant buildings, many by internationally renowned architects, including Frank Gehry, Jun Aoki, and Peter Marino, with bespoke exteriors designed to create a powerful visual experience relating to the specificities of its location — transcending beyond the architecture itself, ultimately evoking emotion.
Each skin is undeniably unique to its location: “None of Louis Vuitton’s stores are designed to fit into the urban context in any conventional way. They are buildings designed to have the same appeal as the Maison’s products, elevated to civic scale,” shares Goldberger. The book is available on six different covers, each featuring one of Louis Vuitton’s most architecturally distinctive stores worldwide: Beijing, Paris, Seoul, New York City, Tokyo, and Singapore.
