Louis Vuitton x Takashi Murakami: Reading the Multicolore, 2003 to 2025

In 2002 the designer Marc Jacobs, then artistic director at Louis Vuitton, invited the Tokyo artist Takashi Murakami to work with the house. The next year the Monogram, unchanged in its colours since the nineteenth century, appeared in many colours on a white or black ground. The Monogram Multicolore became one of the most recognisable bags of its decade, and the pieces from it reach our shelves in Tokyo every month.

Our thesis: the Multicolore is an artwork that happens to be a bag, and it should be read on both counts. As an artwork it belongs to Murakami's Superflat project; as a bag it belongs to the house's long run of Monogram canvas shapes. A good example satisfies both readings.

At a glance

First collaboration	2002, at the invitation of Marc Jacobs
Monogram Multicolore	2003, on white and black grounds
Other patterns	Cherry Blossom; Monogramouflage, 2008; Superflat Panda
In the museum	©Murakami retrospective, 2007 to 2009, with a working Louis Vuitton boutique
Re-edition	Louis Vuitton × Murakami, more than 200 pieces, first chapter January 2025

From a canvas to a palette

The Monogram canvas dates from 1896, and its flowers and quatrefoils were drawn partly from the Victorian fashion for Japanese family crests. Murakami's first contribution, a collection released in 2002, featured some of his artwork. In 2003, working with Jacobs, he masterminded the Monogram Multicolore range of handbags and accessories, which redraws the familiar letters and flowers in a crowd of colours; in the house's 2025 re-edition the palette is counted at 33 colours.

Murakami also made the Cherry Blossom pattern, which scatters smiling cartoon faces in pink and yellow flowers over the classic Monogram, and the Monogramouflage collection, which debuted in 2008. Two animated films for the house, Superflat Monogram of 2003 and Superflat First Love of 2009, carried his Superflat Panda and his flowers into moving pictures.

The museum boutique

From 2007 to 2009 Murakami's first retrospective, ©Murakami, travelled from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles to the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. It drew wide attention for including a fully working Louis Vuitton boutique as one of the exhibits. In our reading this is the moment the Multicolore became a question for collectors of art as well as of bags: the artist put the shop inside the museum.

The 2025 re-edition

Twenty years after the first collaboration, Louis Vuitton and Murakami launched Louis Vuitton × Murakami, a re-edition of more than 200 pieces. Its first chapter arrived at the start of January 2025, with the Multicolore on white and black grounds, the Superflat Panda and the smiling flowers of Superflat Garden; a second chapter with the Cherry Blossom pattern followed in March 2025. The house describes the prints as re-fashioned with newer technology for sharper definition.

Both generations sit on our shelf. A 2003 Sac Dalmatian in Multicolore with haircalf belongs to the first; a Keepall Bandoulière 45 with Murakami flowers and a Zippy Wallet M13922 in white Multicolore belong to the second.

The shapes beneath the colour

In our handling the Multicolore was applied to a wide range of the house's shapes, from small leather goods to travel bags, and the shape matters as much as the canvas. A white Trouville is a structured handbag with a top handle; a black Greta is a shoulder bag; an Annie MM is a tote. Each wears differently. Structured bags show it at the corners and the base, soft shoulder bags at the strap and the folds, and totes at the handles and the opening.

The 2025 pieces add shapes that did not exist in 2003, and some that mix materials. A Marellini M13099 in black Epi leather with Multicolore is an example: the colour now sits on leather as well as on coated canvas. In our reading, collectors who want the first generation should start with the shape and the reference code, and only then with the colour, because the colour alone no longer separates the two decades.

Small leather goods deserve the same care as bags. In our handling, wallets in white Multicolore show handling at the edges first, and wallets in black hide it longer, so a black wallet in good order can be older than it looks. We open each one, photograph the interior and the stamp, and describe what we see.

How we read one

• Ground colour. White and black grounds appear in both generations. In our handling the white ground shows wear and transfer first, at corners and handles, so we photograph those closely.
• Reference code. In our handling the original pieces carry reference codes such as M92663 for the white Trouville, M40196 for the black Greta and M92658 for the black Porte Trésor International; the 2025 pieces we have handled carry codes such as M13922 and M14182. We read the code against the shape and the ground.
• Date code or chip. Originals usually carry a stamped date code; our guide to date codes and microchips explains how to read it and why newer pieces may have none.
• Print. In our handling the 2025 print reads crisper at the edges of each motif, which matches the house's own description of the re-edition.
• Linings and hardware. We note the lining colour and the hardware finish, gold-tone on many originals, because both help to match a bag to its year.

Where it sits in the collection

The Multicolore pieces live on the Louis Vuitton Multicolore shelf and, for the artist's wider work, beside the Takashi Murakami shelf. For the bags beneath the canvas, see our guide to the Keepall, Speedy and Neverfull; for Murakami beyond the house, collecting Takashi Murakami.

What we checked and left out

Dates and the re-edition details come from the sources below. Reference codes are read from pieces we have handled. We give no prices and make no claims about future value.

Further reading

• Louis Vuitton and Murakami, 2003 to 2015: our overview of the whole collaboration, of which Multicolore is one line.
• Kaikai Kiki, in the Lexicon: Murakami's company.
• Damier, in the Lexicon: the house's other canvas.

Sources

1. Louis Vuitton, encyclopaedia entry, for the 1896 Monogram, Japanese crests, the 2002 artwork collection, the 2003 Multicolore with Marc Jacobs, Cherry Blossom and Monogramouflage in 2008. wikipedia.org
2. Takashi Murakami, encyclopaedia entry, for the 2002 invitation from Marc Jacobs and the ©Murakami retrospective of 2007 to 2009 with its boutique. wikipedia.org
3. LVMH, Louis Vuitton and Takashi Murakami celebrate 20th anniversary of era-defining collaboration with launch of re-edition collection, for the 200 pieces, the January 2025 first chapter, the March Cherry Blossom chapter and the remastered prints. lvmh.com
4. Artnet News, Zendaya Fronts Louis Vuitton's Reissue of Its Iconic Takashi Murakami Collab, for the 33 colours, Superflat Panda, Superflat Garden and the films of 2003 and 2009. news.artnet.com

Last reviewed 15 November 2026. The Japonista Curation and Concierge Team, Tokyo, Japan.