Simon Doonan, Creative director of Barney's and long time window dresser designed each window bank to represent the different phases of Warhol's life. The Warhol-idays also extends into the store, were you can purchase exclusive Warhol factory X jeans, reproductions of Campbell's soup cans plus, gift cards and shopping bags donning prints and drawings by the man himself. Doonan heralds Andy Warhol as the "patron saint of American retail" citing his experience in window dressing and advertising as the perfect bridge between fashion and art. Simon Doonan has been a great patron of the arts and has always made an effort to blend the borders of art and design. In 1991, he commissioned works of art for the Barney's store to be created by 20 artists such as now famous Tom Sachs.

Olafur Eliasson sculpture for Louis Vuitton holiday windows	Louis Vuitton bag
Frank Gehry design for the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation

While strolling down fifth avenue this holiday season, you may also be surprised by the Louis Vuitton windows displaying an eyeball like light and no merchandise in sight. The light is a commissioned sculpture titled "eye see you" by Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. And yes, the holiday windows have no merchandise, simply art. Yves Carcelle, Chief executive of Vuitton states fearlessly "Our clients are more and more interested in design, creation and art". Remembering back to the popularity of Jacob's bag designs peppered with Murakami characters, it is no wonder he has no fear of giving the spotlight to renowned artists. In 2000 Sylvia Fluery, A Swiss artist created a sculptural reproduction of Louis Vuitton's famous keepall travel bag out of silver plated brass. A year later, one of eight of these sculptures was bought by Carcelle and was displayed at the opening of the Hong Kong flagship store opening. Most recently, Marc Jacobs saw the sculpture and was inspired to create a metallic version of the bag it has arrived in stores the first of December, just in time for art struck holiday shoppers. Looking forward to around 2009, LVMH is laying the groundwork for its most ambitious project dedicated to the arts, The Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation. Housed in a cloud-like building designed by Frank Gehry, the center will be a permanent museum devoted to the arts.

Michael Rovner video for Chanel

Fine art proved to be a great tool for attracting audiences to Chanel's latest boutique in Hong Kong as well. Last year, at it's opening, a waterfall of L.E.D. lights across the façade gave life to video installations of five world-renowned artists including Michael Rovner. With an estimated audience of five million people, it was a mutually beneficial venture beyond words. Rovner was also commissioned to create a video piece for the Tokyo flagship store, 10 story high images of walking figures morphing into tweed. In the end, I question if these artist have "sold out" to retail just as our dear Santa has, becoming a mere tool for profit. Perhaps- but history shows us that art has always been commissioned by the major powers of society as a means for royalty and the church to drive their agendas and furnish their lifestyles.

So it is only natural that in today's capitalist society, retailers are the power players commissioning the arts to do the same. The correlation between art and fashion is not a new concept but like many things in this day and age, it is taking off faster than ever. The borders between galleries and boutiques are blending as we move towards a more holistic lifestyle approach to fashion. Art as a display item is only one of the ways these two worlds are becoming one. Look to our weekly blog entries for guides to fashion related exhibits around the globe as well as reviews and news from the contemporary art scene.