The next chapter of Lanvin Lab sees the oldest French couture house partner with contemporary artist Erwin Wurm in a cross-disciplinary creative project that connects the ethos of a storied Maison with the pulse of a new world.
Jeanne Lanvin’s life and work engaged in constant dialogue with other spheres of invention across the arts. Lanvin Lab was conceived in 2023 to honor and forward this spirit, to bring together different universes united in pursuit of excellence and the cultural expression of Lanvin’s unique savoir-faire. The inaugural Lanvin Lab project, available now on Lanvin.com and in select Lanvin boutiques and specialty retailers worldwide, celebrated the inextricable fusion of fashion and music through a collection designed in collaboration with Grammy-award winning artist Future.
For the second edition of Lanvin Lab, the Maison has commissioned a large-scale sculptural work from acclaimed artist Erwin Wurm that will travel over the coming months across various public spaces in China, one of the world’s most dynamic geographies and economies. Titled Desire, the sculpture captures the essence of our collective longing for symbols of self-expression.
‘Symbols of self-expression are what we desire. We often look for this self-expression in objects, such as a beautiful handbag, that represent how we would like to be seen by others’
comments Wurm.
The anthropomorphized figure, a notion distinctly associated with Wurm’s oeuvre, references two current Lanvin icons – the Pencil Cat Bag and the Cash sneaker. Each evidence the crosscultural dialogues at the heart of Lanvin Lab: the Cash sneaker radiating fine craftsmanship with the attitude of twenty-first-century rap; the Pencil Cat Bag drawing inspiration from an early twentieth-century collaboration between Jeanne Lanvin and the interior and furniture designer Armand-Albert Rateau. The resulting work is a monumental gesture made in the artist’s own instantly identifiable visual language marked by distinctive contemporary emblems of Lanvin
Inspired by the concept of layering, inherent to both fashion and sculptural art, Wurm reflects:
‘Sculptures often consist only of a thin layer. It’s this layer that captivates me, often serving
as the final touch that renders an object complete. This outer layer dictates the perception of
both objects and ourselves as humans. We use clothing as a layer – be it garments, shoes, or
accessories – to portray a specific image to the world around us. It’s a reoccurring subject in my
work, and it’s a pleasure to be able to connect these ideas with contemporary clothing objects
from Lanvin.’
Executed in signature Lanvin blue, Wurm’s sculptural Lanvin Lab installation was unveiled on
April 8th in Beijing and then begin a journey across six mainland cities over the next five months.
The work will be installed near Lanvin boutiques in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Chengdu, Shenzhen and Shenyang including an appearance at the Fosun Foundation in Shanghai, where Wurm will open a major solo exhibition in June.
About the artist
Erwin Wurm (b. 1954) is an Austrian multi-media artist, working between Vienna and Limberg in Austria and New York. Over the course of his career, he has radically explored conceptions of sculpture, space and the human form.
A signature of Wurm’s recent work has been the anthropomorphizing of everyday objects, simultaneously exploring still life and the human body. His work disrupts perceptions of the familiar and sensible and in a process that abounds with experimentation and the surreal. His work is both playful and political, using unreal and sometimes ludicrous scenarios to create works that addresses how we conform to societal demands and how sculpture can upend cultural beliefs. Present in international museum collections and highly regarded for his 2017 Austrian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, this is Wurm’s first collaboration with Lanvin.
About Lanvin Lab
Founded in 1889 by Jeanne Lanvin, a pioneering female couturière, the house expanded during her lifetime to explore ground-breaking realms of creativity. Alongside era-defining couture designs, her ceaseless invention included childrenswear, perfume, interior decor and a madeto-measure clothing line for men, making Lanvin the first Parisian couture house to launch such a venture. Jeanne Lanvin saw fashion as part of culture – she cultivated friendships with writers, musicians, theater directors, and architects of her day, creating within the house a cosmopolitan hub that fired her own creativity.
It is with this spirit of invention that Lanvin created Lanvin Lab in 2023, an experimental space for the cultural and lifestyle expression of the house. Eschewing fashion conventions, Lanvin Lab’s collaborative projects are released alongside seasonal collections, exploring individualistic visions and bridging gaps between diverse creative practices.
