Louis Vuitton enters esports world with League of Legends video game

By

Dominique Muret

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Nov 12, 2019

Louis Vuitton has entered the esports arena in partnership with US developer and publisher Riot Games, creator of the famous League of Legends video game. Through this unique association, the luxury label owned by the LVMH group is broadening its audience, reaching out to an entirely new segment, that of esports, practised by millions of video-game players worldwide.

After creating the trophy cases for the FIFA football World Cup, the Roland Garros tennis tournament and the America’s Cup, Louis Vuitton has moved into esports. The luxury label shared the spotlight on Sunday in Paris, at the final of the League of Legends world championship, by designing the precious, high-tech case for the Summoner’s Cup - the trophy awarded to the world champion team - a case that was hand-crafted by Louis Vuitton's artisan trunk-makers.

The trophy went to Chinese team FPX, which beat European team G2 in the final, watched by 20,000 spectators and by more than 100 million e-viewers worldwide. League of Legends is a multiplayer, online battle arena video game, created in 2009 and now a global franchise, part of the thriving esports industry.

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For this first foray into the sector, Louis Vuitton mustered its big guns, involving also Nicolas Ghesquière, the creative director of the label’s womenswear collections. Ghesquière, a video game fan who has always been fascinated by new technology, designed a look for one of the game’s characters, Qiyana, which was presented on Sunday for the championship final.

A futuristic outfit similar to one seen in a recent Ghesquière-designed collection, featuring leather leggings with gold accents, a lace top, a Vuitton mini-handbag clipped to the waist and oversize earrings with the LV logo.

A second ‘skin’, as the outfits of these virtual stars are called, designed by Ghesquière for the character Senna, will be unveiled next February. Finally, Ghesquière will design a real-life capsule collection inspired by League of Legends, available in January.