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Just in time for Christmas, and the clusterfuck of shopping that is currently taking place in the hours leading up to the 25th, Louis Vuitton decided to mix things up a little bit, giving their Fifth Avenue flagship store a pre-2011 artistic makeover. Since 2006, Olafur Eliasson's "You See Me" has been a central focus of LV HQ...but not anymore.
Welcome French artist Xavier Veilhan, whose "Mobile" has taken over the hub of all things monogrammed. The piece, consisting of a series of large purple globes (which also happened to be implemented at Versaille on a slightly larger scale), now hangs from the store's ceiling, spashing a hard-to-miss vibrant pop of color against a sea of brown-on-brown background.
Louis Vuitton chairman and chief executive officer Yves Carcelle was on hand last week for the official unveiling, an artistic landscape that hasn't been changed or remotely updated in over four years. Here's what he had to say of Veilhan's "Mobile":
The product is important, is key, but the environment is too. Anything that can bring more emotion in the store for us is important. We think that, really, art changes life. When you put art somewhere, people behave differently.Well said. With crunch-time mode officially in full force, let's see if "Mobile" gets people to behave differently. And by behave differently, for Carcelle's sake, we hope it means splurging on an extra Damier Canvas Speedy 25...or two.
· Louis Vuitton Goes 'Mobile' on Fifth Avenue {WWD]
· Off-Brand Things Sold at the Vuitton Store: Keith Richards' Book [Racked National]
· A Very Vuitton Holiday: Sugarplum Fairies, Train Sets & Polar Bears [Racked National]