Toy with Louis Vuitton x Sun Yitian

Vivid, multi-hued, and with an endearing cartoon-like style — these are the hallmarks of Sun Yitian’s work. The young Chinese contemporary artist, who is based in Beijing, has had her pieces exhibited internationally at locations including the Lion Palace in Berlin, and New York’s Metropolitan Pavilion. Recently, Sun’s photorealistic paintings of toys have taken over a whole new “venue” — they brilliantly enliven Louis Vuitton’s Pre- Fall 2024 collection, which was shown in Shanghai in April, energising its ready-to-wear, leather goods, accessories, and even limited edition fragrances.

With a knack for tapping on “mass production” items, Sun reenvisions animal toys — a pink rabbit, yellow duck, dog, leopard, zebra, swan and penguin — and incorporates them boldly (and very visibly) into the design of signature Louis Vuitton bags, footwear, perfume packaging, and more. The Epi leather Alma goes wild with a zebra motif; while an On The Go, in reverse varnished calfskin, gets into the swim of things with Sun’s depiction of a duck. Coin purses and bag charms are equally sprightly and covetable, and a brand new Mini Square Trunk in smooth calfskin, sporting an adorable dog motif, is every woman’s best friend.

As for the ready-to-wear department: A petal pink coat with a smiling leopard, a sky-blue windbreaker bearing the face of a duck, and an A-line dress decorated with a poufy pink rabbit and its Monogram flower eyes — the Pre-Fall pieces are youthful and whimsical, to say the least. Louis Vuitton’s tie-up with Sun is cartoon-complete with limited editions of three of the house’s perfumes: Spell on You, Imagination and Heures d’Absence. Each bottle comes ornamented with a charm — the pink rabbit bounces on to Spell on You, an orange leopard meets Heures d’Absence, and the yellow duck vivifies Imagination. The artist says: “The connection between paintings on a canvas and the viewer is somewhat static and silent, a form of observation with a certain distance. However, when my artworks are translated into clothing, bags, or perfumes, they become much closer to people, and this interaction is lively and unpredictable. It creates an equal relationship of use.”