Beyond product: How luxury brands ignite desire through art

Against a backdrop of subdued expansion, art has emerged not as decoration but as strategy: a force that transcends language and geography, connects cultures, and builds resilient channels of consumer dialogue. Products now carry collectible and asset value alongside their aesthetic appeal. Stores have evolved from points of transaction into cultural destinations. And brands themselves are graduating from cultural borrowers to active producers — co-creating the narratives that define taste. Bernstein data show that collaborations with top-tier artists often command significant premiums: a basic handbag, enhanced by iconic visual elements, can achieve a 10-20% direct markup, while maintaining strong resilience on the secondary market. Auction results provide tangible examples: Louis Vuitton’s 2007 Marilyn Trunk, created with Takashi Murakami, has been valued at 200,000 British pounds ($270,592) at Sotheby’s. From consumer goods to collectible assets Louis Vuitton has built the most mature model in this space. Since the early 2000s, collaborations with Takashi Murakami and Stephen Sprouse reimagined the classic Monogram and demonstrated that artist partnerships could become full cultural phenomena. Its long-term relationship with Yayoi Kusama — sustained across multiple market cycles — has proven the enduring commercial value of anchoring a brand to a top-tier artistic identity. In 2025, Louis Vuitton revived its Murakami collaboration — not as nostalgia, but as a deliberate reassertion of its asset-driven strategy. The market responded immediately: a limited-edition pop-up on Shanghai’s Julu Road in January sparked long queues and frenzied purchases, transforming the street into a social media destination. The act of lining up became its own statement — a collective recognition of scarcity that reinforced both the products’ immediate desirability and their longer-term collectible value. Stores as cultural landmarks In an era when e-commerce dominates transactions, physical space remains one of the few assets that cannot be replicated by an algorithm. Brands are investing heavily to transform stores into cultural landmarks — using singular, immersive experiences to counter the sameness of online retail and secure a lasting claim on consumers’ time and attention. The reconstruction of Tiffany’s Fifth Avenue store in New York is a prime example of this strategy. Begun in 2019 and reopened in April 2023, the renovation enlisted OMA for the architectural overhaul and Peter Marino for the interiors, and integrated nearly 40 commissioned artworks throughout — including sculptures by Daniel Arsham and works by Jenny Holzer — transforming a retail institution into a cultural destination worthy of a dedicated visit. When a store becomes a destination, the metrics for success expand beyond sales. Dwell time, repeat visits, and social media reach all come into play. And while the same products are available online, the scale of the architecture and the presence of original artworks offer an experience that a screen cannot replicate. Architecture as brand identity Collaborations with star architects have become a standard part of luxury brands’ offline strategies, according to Bernstein. Louis Vuitton’s approach illustrates the ambition. Its Seoul store, designed by Frank Gehry, uses a cascading glass façade drawn from Korean architectural heritage to embed the brand in the local urban landscape. Its Beijing flagship, designed by Jun Aoki, takes a contrasting minimalist approach, channeling Eastern aesthetics to deepen the brand's connection to the local context. In both cases, the building itself becomes an object of desire. Loewe has taken a more understated path. In its ‘Loewe Houses’ around the world, works by Japanese bamboo artist Tanabe Chikuunsai IV and Korean artist Haegue Yang are woven into everyday displays, deliberately blurring the line between retail and art. The approach is quieter than Tiffany’s, but the intent is the same: to give customers a reason to linger — and return. From patrons to producers But physical spaces, however impressive, are ultimately confined to immediate experience. Some brands are pushing further — extending their art strategies upstream, from expression through objects and spaces to the very source of cultural production. They are becoming long-term patrons and producers, shaping public perception at a level that retail alone cannot reach. Miu Miu offers the most compelling example of this shift. In 2011, the brand launched Women’s Tales, a series of short films commissioning female directors from around the world — years before female-focused narratives entered mainstream cultural discourse. More than 30 films have been released to date, making it the longest-running commissioning platform of female-led short films in the fashion industry, and a cornerstone of the brand's cultural identity. The brand has simultaneously deepened its engagement with contemporary art. Since 2024, Miu Miu has served as official partner of the Art Basel Paris Public Program — presenting Tales & Tellers, conceived by Goshka Macuga and convened by Elvira Dyangani Ose, in 2024, and Turner Prize-winner Helen Marten’s immersive performance work “30 Blizzards” in October 2025. A second edition of Tales & Tellers followed in New York in May 2025, extending the project’s reach across borders and disciplines. The commercial results speak for themselves: Miu Miu is today the fastest-growing brand within the Prada Group. These long-term cultural investments — which generate little immediate return — have built a brand identity that is genuinely difficult to replicate, and one that continues to compound in value. Chanel’s collaboration model Chanel has taken a different path. Where brands such as Cartier, Prada, and Louis Vuitton have pursued an ownership model — establishing cultural territory through their own foundations and institutions — Bernstein categorizes Chanel as a collaboration model. Since launching the Chanel Culture Fund in 2021, the brand has worked closely with leading cultural institutions worldwide, quietly weaving itself into the fabric of cities rather than staking out owned cultural real estate. In China, the brand partnered with Shanghai’s Power Station of Art (PSA) to establish the country’s first public library dedicated to contemporary art — the Espace Gabrielle Chanel, which opened in November 2025. Globally, it has contributed to the restoration of the Grand Palais in Paris, supported the National Portrait Gallery in London, and partnered with the Pompidou Centre on collection development. Such investments rarely generate immediate attention, but they embed the brand within public cultural life in ways that owned spaces cannot. Across all these strategies — collectible products, landmark spaces, long-term cultural patronage — the underlying ambition is the same: to establish an identity in consumers’ minds that outlasts any single product or campaign. In an era of fractured globalization, the brands that endure will be those that have made themselves culturally indispensable. Art, it turns out, may be the most durable competitive advantage of all.

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Beyond product: How luxury brands ignite desire through art