Dispatch from LA: Murakami Madness Takes MoCA

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Depending on whom you ask, it may just be worth the plane ticket to LA to buy a bag designed by Takashi Murakami (current round trip, getting you back by Halloween: $838 on Jet Blue). The Japanese artist’s much-hyped new show at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) in LA features a pop-up version of a Louis Vuitton store (above) selling luxury leather goods (above inset) designed by Murakami—who created one of the all time great cult bags for LV a few years ago. There’s some high-brow explanation for the blending of a luxury brand within a non-profit gallery space, but it breaks down to this: the limited edition handbags, on sale as of this morning, sell for $755-$920 and you can only get them by going to the museum until Feb 11, when the show closes. Even if they were offering them over the phone, it’s impossible to get anyone to answer at the temporary shop: (213) 621-7953. There’s not even a voice mail picking up. “It’s really, really busy over there,” sighed an operator at the museum's general phone number who has started referring the bag hunters to LV’s customer service, (866) 884-8866. The operator on that end says the pop-up shop should have stock until the show closes. But, this is a three-month-plus exhibition: if they do have this kind of supply, the window on this craze ends at Christmas. —Deb Schoeneman
· Murakami, Oct 27, 2007—Feb 11, 2008 [MoCA]
· Takashi Murakami x Louis Vuitton x MoCA [Hype Beast]