Artmaxxing

Why is fashion obsessed with art?

Dior Cruise 2027 at LACMA

“Art is either plagiarism or revolution,” said Marcel Duchamp.

Duchamp had never met Lauren Sanchez.

Artmaxxing, adopted by Sanchez as well as Bertrand Arnault, is a lucrative corporate strategy. It refers to strategic transformation of fashion into objects of art, in order to de-emphasize their commercial nature.

Louis Vuitton Cruise 2027 at The Frick Collection

Louis Vuitton Cruise at the Frick Collection and Dior Cruise at LACMA, both part of Arnault’s conglomerate LVMH, were held in traditionally non-commercial setting. The hope was that rarified symbolic authority of these museums might rub off. (By setting Gucci Cruise in the grimy Times Square, Demna clearly hoped for the opposite effect, calling spade a spade).

Nicholas Ghesquierre partnered with Kith Haring foundation for the LV Cruise and Jonathan Anderson with Ed Ruscha for Dior Cruise; Ruscha’s famous slogans could be seen on a number of shirts on the runway. They will sell for many thousands of dollars, a mere bargain compared to the original works.

“Costume Art,” The Met Museum of Art's Costume Institute exhibition 2026

This year’s Met Museum’s The Costume Institute Gala exhibition is titled “Costume Art” because art x fashion are the zeitgeist. The exhibition’s main sponsors, the Sanchez-Bezos duo, are after the self-fulfilling prophecy: if someone is celebrated as a patron of arts, they must have taste. Just as artmaxxing gives a product the status of the work of art and enriches it with meaning, it also gives a person status and cultural authority.

At least, that’s the hope.

Artmaxxing ensures that fashion remains a contemporary and active element of

Behind the paywall is the analysis of why artmaxxing is a genius corporate strategy and a dangerous cultural strategy.