Olympia Le-Tan launches Jean-Michel Basquiat-inspired handbag line

By

Tanissia Issad

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Oct 15, 2018

The yellow crown, the dinosaur-shaped PEZ candy dispenser and the banana, a tribute to Andy Warhol: some of US artist Jean-Michel Basquiat’s iconic motifs are now featured on French label Olympia Le-Tan’s fashion accessories. Olympia Le-Tan has created a line of six handbags and three book-shaped clutch bags - its signature model - in honour of the US modern artist.
 

The collection’s launch was perfectly timed: until January 14 2019, Basquiat will be the star attraction at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, which is holding a major retrospective exhibition of his work. Also, the Foundation’s shop is selling three of the line's nine models, priced between €650 and €950. The limited-edition collection is also available at some of Olympia Le-Tan’s 30 distributors, like Net-A-Porter, Matchesfashion, Bergdorf Goodman and L’Eclaireur, as well as on the label’s website.

Olympia Le-Tan was in the news last July, when its eponymous designer stepped down from the creative director role. Her associate Grégory Bernard remained as CEO of Olympia Le-Tan, which raised €1 million in capital with private equity firm Audacia in 2015. For the time being, Le-Tan has not been replaced as head of style, and the label’s internal team is taking care of design. Olympia Le-Tan, which filed for receivership a year ago, stated that its current strategy is “to develop the relationship with [our] distributors, which have shown their appreciation for the company’s reorganisation.”