Yayoi Kusama dies at 97: The artist who redefined brand collaborations

Yayoi Kusama has died at the age of 97, and with her passing goes the defining figure behind one of fashion’s most influential artist collaborations. For decades, the Japanese avant-garde artist and her signature dots have filled gallery spaces across the world, as well as Louis Vuitton storefronts, handbags, and global campaigns.

Born in Matsumoto, Nagano, in 1929, Kusama appeared in the New York City art scene in the early 1960s. Her work at the time often featured phallic sculptures and displays of nudity. In her autobiography “Infinity Net,” released in 2002, the artist commented on how her work was being poorly received by critics, while “male artists were simply imitating” her. She accused Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, and Lucas Samaras, along with other prominent male artists, of copying her work.

Throughout the years, Kusama became recognized for her obsessive repetition of dots, pumpkins, infinity rooms, and mirror-ball environments that explore themes of infinity, self-obliteration, and the cosmos. By her 80s, she was globally known. Her visual vocabulary and the title of oldest and best-selling living female artist made her the perfect name for commercial collaborations. That’s when Louis Vuitton came in.

In 2012, Kusama partnered with Louis Vuitton, which was then led by creative director Marc Jacobs, to launch the Dots Infinity collection. The collaboration included ready-to-wear, handbags, shoes, accessories, and eyewear covered in her signature dots. The large-scale rollout was nothing but impressive. Louis Vuitton put Kusama’s work on its windows across the globe and launched seven pop-up stores, including locations at Printemps Paris and Dover Street Market Tokyo. Upon release, Business of Fashion described it “as the largest artist collaboration initiated by any luxury goods or fashion house.”

In 2023, Louis Vuitton, now under Nicolas Ghesquière, reunited with Kusama for a second and even bigger collaboration. Womenswear, menswear, bags, shoes, sunglasses, jewelry, and fragrance. More pop-ups returned to key cities, and the new collection reinforced Kusama’s status as one of fashion’s most important art collaborators, proving the longevity and repeat power of her visual universe.

The partnership between Yayoi Kusama and Louis Vuitton set a new benchmark for retail activation and cross-category design, influencing how houses approach artist partnerships beyond limited capsules.

According to a statement from Kusama’s company, the artist died at a hospital in Tokyo on 14 August. She voluntarily checked herself into the Seiwa Hospital for the Mentally Ill in Tokyo in 1977 to manage severe anxiety.

“Throughout an extraordinary lifetime devoted entirely to artistic creation, Kusama pursued an internationally acclaimed career as a pioneering avant-garde artist whose creative practice encompassed visual art, performance, fiction, and poetry. She continued to paint until her final days, never setting aside her brush, and continued exploration of forever love and eternal soul. We will carry forward Kusama’s wishes and, through art, continue to bring hope and strength for the future to people around the world,” the statement says.

Louis Vuitton recently highlighted Kusama’s art with the exhibition “Yayoi Kusama: Infinity” at Espace Louis Vuitton Osaka, which closed in January. In September, her work will also be showcased at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, including more than seventy years of her groundbreaking pieces.