The Second Chapter of Lanvin Lab 2024 with artist Erwin Wurm dropped today and it’s so cool. Art and Fashion have met. The next chapter of Lanvin Lab sees the oldest French couture house partner with contemporary artist Erwin Wurm in a cross-disciplinary creative project that connects the ethos of a storied Maison with the pulse of a new world.
Lanvin Lab 2024
Jeanne Lanvin’s life and work engaged in constant dialogue with other spheres of invention across the arts. Lanvin Lab was conceived in 2023 to honour and forward this spirit, to bring together different universes united in pursuit of excellence and the cultural expression of Lanvin’s unique savoir-faire.
The inaugural Lanvin Lab project, is available now on Lanvin.com and in select Lanvin boutiques like 22 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Paris 75008 and speciality retailers worldwide. Celebrated the inextricable fusion of fashion and music through a collection designed in collaboration with Grammy-award-winning artist Future.
For the second edition of Lanvin Lab, the Maison has commissioned a large-scale sculptural work from acclaimed artist Erwin Wurm that will travel over the coming months across various public spaces in China, one of the world’s most dynamic geographies and economies.
Titled Desire, the sculpture captures the essence of our collective longing for symbols of self-expression. ‘Symbols of self-expression are what we desire. We often look for this self-expression in objects, such as a beautiful handbag, that represents how we would like to be seen by others, comments Wurm.
Lanvin Lab 2024 with artist Erwin Wurm
The anthropomorphized figure, a notion distinctly associated with Wurm’s oeuvre, references two current Lanvin icons – the Pencil Cat Bag and the Cash sneaker. Each evidence the cross-cultural dialogues at the heart of Lanvin Lab: the Cash sneaker radiating fine craftsmanship with the attitude of twenty-first-century rap; the Pencil Cat Bag drawing inspiration from an early twentieth-century collaboration between Jeanne Lanvin and the interior and furniture designer Armand-Albert Rateau. The resulting work is a monumental gesture made in the artist’s own instantly identifiable visual language marked by distinctive contemporary emblems of Lanvin.
Inspired by the concept of layering, inherent to both fashion and sculptural art, Wurm reflects: ‘Sculptures often consist only of a thin layer. It’s this layer that captivates me, often serving as the final touch that renders an object complete. This outer layer dictates the perception of both objects and ourselves as humans. We use clothing as a layer – be it garments, shoes, or accessories – to portray a specific image to the world around us. It’s a recurring subject in my work, and it’s a pleasure to be able to connect these ideas with contemporary clothing objects from Lanvin.’
Executed in signature Lanvin blue, Wurm’s sculptural Lanvin Lab installation will be unveiled on April 8 in Beijing and then begin a journey across six mainland cities over the next five months. The work will be installed near Lanvin boutiques in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Chengdu, Shenzhen and Shenyang including an appearance at the Fosun Foundation in Shanghai, where Wurm will open a major solo exhibition in June.
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Photo Credit: Lanvin
