For his latest cruise collection for Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs has teamed up with UK-based artist Tanya Ling, known for her sensuous watercolours.
	Marc Jacobs has often walked the line between fashion and art, and collaborations have punctuated his career. For spring/summer 2001, he worked with artist Stephen Sprouse to turn the Louis Vuitton logo into graffiti; while more recently, he sent models dressed as nurses down the runway in homage to a Richard Prince painting.

For his 2009 cruise collection, Jacobs has worked with fashion illustrator Tanya Ling, who created a series of illustrations of the range, as well as an exclusive striped print. Shown through the soft focus of Ling’s watercolours, Jacobs’s sharp tailoring takes on a languid femininity, showing once more what can happen when two worlds collide.

Bright, feminine and flirty is the theme for Marc Jacobs’ 2009 Cruise Collection for Louis Vuitton. Using pure lines, crisp cottons and fluid silks, many of the pieces are in the prettiest of pastels and the range can be worn from the beach to city streets and cocktail parties.
 
Dazzling white is a key colour and there is a sportswear slant for the day that evokes the elegance of the tennis courts. White also served as a backdrop for pale pink, blue and orange.

In addition, Louis Vuitton collaborated with London-based artist Tanya Ling, best known as a fashion illustrator, to produce a series of pieces with a nautical theme and watercolour stripes printed on silk twill.

Two standout looks for eveningwear include a pale peach goddess dress in viscose jersey and a hot pink silk crepe halter-neck jumpsuit focusing on the shoulders and back as the new erogenous zones.

The Louis Vuitton 2009 Cruise Collection features bags with the LV Monogram in fluorescent pink or orange neoprene as an oversized tote, holdall or clutch.

 In another bag design, LV found a graphic logo from 1929 in their archives and used that on a canvas tote and square shoulder bag.

As for the jewellery, a highlight is the use of the pretty Monogram flower motif.

For shoes, eye-catching colours complement the clothes in wedges in satin, metallic leather or flower-print canvas.

The Louis Vuitton Cruise Collection will be available from November 2008, for enquires please call 8100 1182 or visit louisvuitton.com.

The doors opened to a huge space, white & glorious, set up like a kind of labyrinth with a view of the river. Makeshift walls had been erected & featured fabulous illustrations by Tanya Ling, & along the improvised passageways the cruise collection was displayed. Dresses hung, tantalising me with their details & craftsmanship. Handbags in bright colours sat proudly on shelves. Shoes winked & glimmered under the lights.