When you walk down the Champs-Élysées in Paris, you might see something surprising. In honor of their work with Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, the French luxury brand Louis Vuitton has redecorated several locations around the world with polka dots and animatronics that look like they are alive. The special installations are timed to coincide with the release of a capsule collection by Louis Vuitton that was inspired by Kusama's creative work. The changes to these stores range from small changes to the interiors and window displays to strange changes to the building itself. The large balloon portrait of Kusama herself that is stuck to the outside of the Louis Vuitton flagship store in Paris might be the one that stands out the most. It is put on the roof of the art deco building, with one arm hanging over the windows as if she were painting the many rainbow dots that cover the building's front.
This isn't the only place that Kusama has changed, though. In Tokyo, the Louis Vuitton store changed its window displays to look like Kusama's pumpkin art. The walls and floors now have a pattern of black polka dots on a warm yellow background. And at the Fifth Avenue store in New York, you can see a strange moving Kusama painting inside one of the windows. It looks almost exactly like the artist from a distance and moves slowly and deliberately. It even blinks and moves its lips to add to the effect.
Jean Dubreil