Cover When art meets fashion design: The Prada Marfa art installation located in the Chihuahuan Desert, Texas (Photo: Prada Group)
When art meets fashion design: The Prada Marfa art installation located in the Chihuahuan Desert, Texas (Photo: Prada Group)
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Take a look at how these luxury fashion brands intertwine brand identity with visual arts
Fashion and art are simply intertwined. Both forms of expression rely on creativity and a strong grasp of visual language in order to communicate ideas and emotion. Over the years, designers have collaborated with esteemed visual artists to create bodies of work that stand out beyond the usual fashion cycle. The fruits of these partnerships have resulted in coveted collector’s items, museum-worthy garments and even permanent art installations. Some collaborations even pay homage to late yet legendary artists, while others grow from a direct exchange of ideas.
Together, they show how fashion and visual art continue to influence each other, producing work that resonates across both creative sectors. Take a look at a few of these examples.
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Louis Vuitton and Takashi Murakami
Louis Vuitton and Takashi Murakami merged the worlds of contemporary art and luxury fashion with a high-octane collection that left a lasting impact on the fashion world. The partnership began in 2003 and was a brainchild of then-creative director Marc Jacobs. It resulted in the iconic Monogram Multicolore, a playful redesign of the iconic ‘LV’ monogram with colourful hues.
2025 saw the collection’s re-edition, which included updated motifs and new characters from Murakami’s body of work.
Schiaparelli and Salvador Dalí
Above The Lobster Dress designed by Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dalí (Photo: Philadelphia Museum of Art)
The Lobster Dress designed by Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dalí (Photo: Philadelphia Museum of Art)
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Standing at one of the most iconic intersections of art and fashion are Elsa Schiaparelli’s collaborations with Salvador Dalí. The duo shared a fascination with surrealism and eccentricity, and their collective endeavours birthed a number of unforgettable garments and accessories.
The lobster dress was perhaps their most famous creation, consisting of a white silk organza gown featuring a large lobster motif hand painted by Dalí.
Alexander McQueen and Damien Hirst
Alexander McQueen partnered with Damien Hirst to celebrate the 10th anniversary of McQueen’s iconic skull scarf, first introduced in the former’s spring/summer 2003 collection. This resulted in a limited-edition collection of 30 scarf designs that merged the aesthetics of both visionaries.
Each scarf was inspired by Hirst’s Entomology series and featured a variety of insects arranged in kaleidoscopic patterns.
See also: 5 insights on fashion, according to Alexander McQueen
Raf Simons and Robert Mapplethorpe
Above Raf Simons dons a shirt from his collaboration with the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation at the 2017 CFDA Fashion Awards (Photo: Getty Images / Dimitrios Kambouris)
Raf Simons dons a shirt from his collaboration with the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation at the 2017 CFDA Fashion Awards (Photo: Getty Images / Dimitrios Kambouris)
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Raf Simons collaborated with the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation to create a collection inspired by the works of the late photographer. Simons selected about 100 photographs from Mapplethorpe’s archive, including portraits of artists and musicians like Cindy Sherman and David Byrne, and superimposed them into shirts, jackets and other garments. The partnership culminated in Simons’s Spring/Summer 2017 menswear collection.
Prada and Elmgreen & Dragset
Above A shot of the Prada Marfa art installation by Elmgreen & Dragset (Photo: Prada Marfa / Claes Nordenskiold)
A shot of the Prada Marfa art installation by Elmgreen & Dragset (Photo: Prada Marfa / Claes Nordenskiold)
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In 2005, Scandinavian artistic duo Elmgreen & Dragset created this permanent, site-specific art installation taking the form of a small, highly realistic Prada boutique. The solitary building, which accurately follows the fashion house’s aesthetic design codes, is located in the remote Chihuahuan Desert of Texas, almost 60 kilometres from Marfa, a town renowned in the art world.
Though the structure was not officially commissioned by the brand, Miuccia Prada herself voiced her appreciation for the project, even going so far as to donate a number of pieces from Prada’s Autumn/Winter 2024 collection.
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About
Julianna has been interested in leading a literary life since she first read Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess at eight. Before working with Tatler, she was an archive intern at The Center for Fiction in Brooklyn, New York. She is a textbook Pisces who devotes most of her spare time to her crochet projects, watching classic films, and going through her never-ending pile of unread books. She studied creative writing, global literature and art history at Sarah Lawrence College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2022. Toni Morrison, Nora Ephron, Clarice Lispector and Jia Tolentino are among her all-time favourite writers.
Work
Julianna writes about fashion, beauty, sustainability, and the arts. She is always keen on conducting interviews with talented women who are changing the game in their respective fields.
For event invites and story leads, hit her up at julianna.cabili@tatlerasia.com
