In honour of Robert Indiana, Longchamp has released a Le Pliage collection that celebrates his iconic LOVE artwork.
“I have always admired the late American artist, partly because I felt his work, which is so graphic in style and optimistic in tone, really matched the bold spirit and bright energy of Longchamp,” shares Sophie Delafontaine, Longchamp’s creative director and granddaughter of the founder. “Love is universal, a positive message that is understood all over the world, and I liked the idea of reproducing this message on Le Pliage, a universally beloved bag. I love the idea of releasing an ephemeral collection created to last forever.”
Longchamp’s tribute could only happen because The Robert Indiana Legacy Initiative believes that the Parisian heritage brand respects the integrity of the artist‘s work, and the Le Pliage collection certainly bears testimony of its appreciation of the impact of Indiana’s brilliance in colour and form.
Here, the LOVE letters – rendered in three colourways adapted from Indiana’s original artworks – lend a poetic dimension to the Le Pliage. The capsule introduces two square iterations of the bag – a tote and a mini crossbody.
But the most exclusive edition is the Le Pliage in black cowhide leather embossed with the red LOVE emblem.
Another special offering is a silk scarf punctuated with numbers in jolts of brights – the artist was fascinated with numerology.
The idea of the emotionally stirring LOVE pile-up originated in 1964 from Indiana’s series of frottage drawings, an artistic technique that rubs paper or canvas over a textured surface with a pencil, charcoal, or other drawing tools. It was a popular method among surrealists to create random effects. Indiana’s oddly tilted “O” distinguishes the four block letters, but its playful spirit serves a design purpose – the oblong negative produced by the slant creates a line leading the the letter “V”.
Today, the LOVE artwork, an arresting embodiment of the power of language, is one of the foremost visuals of 20th century art, recognised and acclaimed all over the world. In fact, a sculpture of the stacked letters is installed here in Singapore, at Winsland House II.
Longchamp’s tribute was presented in a celebrity-studded global launch that brought the likes of Rachel Brosnahan, Elle Fanning and Lucy Hale to the maison’s Fifth Avenue flagship store.
