SEOUL — A cartoon radish dressed as a rabbit and his diminutive crocodile-like companion riding aboard Louis Vuitton’s signature 1929 Citroen delivery truck is the last thing one would expect to see at the latest incarnation of the brand’s “Volez, Voguez, Voyagez” historical travel-themed exhibition in Seoul.
But in trendy South Korea, where cuteness is a prized cultural aesthetic, Louis Vuitton’s latest emoji-based collaboration with South Korean messaging service Kakao Talk ushers in a new era of digital partnerships and South Korean pop culture relevance for the French luxury fashion house.
The collaboration, unveiled alongside Vuitton’s “Volez, Voguez, Voyagez” exhibit at the Zaha Hadid-designed Dongdaemun Design Plaza, features animated emojis of the brand’s monogram trunks alongside a colorful cast of cartoons including the aforementioned radish/rabbit as well as a cat and dog couple in love; a maneless lion named Ryan; a mischievous personified pink peach, and a hip-hop-obsessed mole named Jay-G who sports an Afro and a black suit. Besides the downloadable emoji pack, which is free for a limited number of visitors, Vuitton and Kakao have also launched purchasable stickers, iron-on patches and custom-made leather luggage tags which will retail for around $200.
Kakao Talk messenger, which can be likened to Whatsapp in the
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