BTS designs a trunk for Louis Vuitton founder’s 200th birthday
BTS was named one of the luxury fashion house’s brand ambassadors in April.
To celebrate the 200th birthday of its founder, Louis Vuitton, the brand tapped 200 personalities to design a trunk that will be displayed in its 460 stores for 100 days starting Aug. 4.
In 1854, Vuitton founded his luggage empire in Paris, France when the city was not yet known as the fashion and design capital of the world. Since then, the brand has become synonymous with travel with its classic trunk and luggage collections.
That’s why this project—helmed by the brand’s visual image director Faye McLeod, art director Ansel Thompson, and menswear artistic director Virgil Abloh—is a fitting homage to Vuitton who started it all. Thompson and McLeod curated different “visionaries” to capture the spirit of Vuitton like poets, scientists, explorers and activists.
Among the personalities who were tasked to design the trunks were fashion designer Marc Jacobs, journalist Gloria Steinem, astrologist Susan Miller, Paralympian Theo Curin and of course, BTS.
According to The New York Times, these individuals were briefed to think of their trunks “as a vessel: for an object, a dream, a future, a reflection, a desire.”
BTS’ playful design is composed of doodles of whales, hearts, crabs, the brand’s signature blossom logo, and colorful stripes that created a 3D image of the LV logo. Some members like Jungkook, RM, Jimin and V also signed the trunk with their names.
McLeod told The New York Times that the Bangtan Boys submitted their design “really quickly” and “they obviously knew what they wanted to express.”
The group is known for their love of luxury brands, especially LV as they are often seen wearing its pieces, including the custom suits they wore at the 2021 Grammy’s in March, where they were nominated for Best Pop Duo or Group Performance.
After being its unofficial endorsers for years, the luxury fashion house tapped the supergroup to be its ambassadors in April.
In early July, its members—RM, Suga, J-Hope, Jin, Jimin, V and Jugkook—looked dapper in head-to-toe LV for the fashion house’s Fall/Winter 2021 show by Virgil Abloh in Seoul.
Banner and thumbnail photos from Hybe and Louis Vuitton