Louis Vuitton finds home at the Gaysorn Amarin mall in Bangkok

In Gossip Girl Season 4, Episode 13, Blair Waldorf said, “Fashion is the most powerful art there is. It’s movement, design, and architecture all in one. It shows the world who we are and who we’d like to be.” For us, nothing epitomises Waldorf’s words like the new Louis Vuitton store that opened in Bangkok’s Gaysorn Amarin. 

LV The Place Bangkok is a convergence of movement and architecture, and the Louis Vuitton accessories and apparel sit pretty occupying two floors. The mall’s façade features huge backlit panels on the walls and is designed by LV’s in-house design team.

Overlooking Phloen Chit Street, where it’s business as usual, a serpentine queue awaits in 33°C to enter the Le Café Louis Vuitton. The weather is on-brand for Bangkok, and these stylish people—dressed as if they are right out of Scott Schuman’s Instagram page—wait to get their table. Another line leads us to the Visionary Journeys exhibition at LV The Place Bangkok, with a trickle of people ascending the escalators to the LV store and Gaggan at Louis Vuitton, the maison’s first restaurant in Southeast Asia. 

LV THE PLACE BANGKOK

The French fashion house has a rich history of collaborating with renowned artists to create pieces that blur the line between high fashion and fine art. Remember the visually striking LV x Yayoi Kusama collaboration that featured the brand’s monogram and the Japanese artist’s signature polka dots? With LV The Place Bangkok, Louis Vuitton elevates this synergy between art and luxury. The exhibition invites you to revisit the brand’s imaginative world, you can call it the Vuitton-verse. Curated by New York-based architect Shohei Shigematsu, the permanent exhibition here, titled ‘Visionary Journeys’, throws light on the maison’s rich design heritage. 

The five thematic rooms of this space—Trunkscape, Origins, Iconic Bags, Collaboration, and the Giveaway Room—pay homage to different aspects of the luxury house. The first room showcases 96 trunks assembled into an arch, highlighting their structural integrity. Each trunk module is constructed with wood and features LV’s iconic monogram canvas and metallic details. 

The second room is a dedicated space showcasing the significant contributions of Louis Vuitton, Georges Vuitton, Gaston Louis Vuitton, and their descendants. It features a cabinet of curiosities; a living archive filled with hundreds of document replicas and  physical artifacts that are arranged across a three-dimensional grid armature along with text and video screens. 

In the ‘Iconic Bags’ room, you’ll witness the brand’s most renowned arm candies that marked significant moments in the maison’s history. Picture classics like the Speedy, Keepall, Alma, Petite Malle, and Noé, all in one room. But that’s not all—21 LV Icons bags and two ready-to-wear looks are carefully arranged into four clusters and encased in clear acrylic bubbles which add a futuristic touch. If you love an LV bag, this place is going to be your Chicago, if Djo is to be believed.

Next up, in the Collaboration room, you’ll witness the brand’s expansion and ingenuity through partnerships. A rotating carousel showcases seven original artifacts placed in harmony with animated screens, transforming the area into a lively display of each collaborator’s unique designs. The Souvenirs Room has an oversized vending machine stocked with brand memorabilia like posters, bags, stickers, and postcards, all tailor-made for the exhibition. 

GAGGAN AT LOUIS VUITTON

After its dining ventures in Osaka and Saint Tropez, Louis Vuitton has launched Gaggan at Louis Vuitton at the Gaysorn Amarin mall. The menu is curated by celebrated Indian chef Gaggan Anand, whose eponymous restaurant at Sukhumvit ranked third in the recently announced Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list. 

The ascent of South Asian cuisine on the global culinary stage is undeniable. From the aromatic curries of South India making a loud noise in New York, to the vibrant flavours of Sri Lanka, a popular meal choice among Londoners, there is something about this cuisine that is finding success on foreign shores. Gaggan at Louis Vuitton is no different. 

As if Eddie Murphy’s character Prince Akeem (from the iconic 1988 comedy Coming to America) has parked all his LV suitcases at the entrance of his restaurant, a stack of vintage trunks greets you at the entrance. Serving as an Instagram-worthy backdrop, this spot partially conceals the restaurant, as though guarding a great culinary secret.

The seating is detailed, dotted with monogram flower lamps, white-fringed curtains, and table napkins that are secured with green paper cutouts of Vivienne, LV’s brand mascot. The menu is seasonal, like most of Gaggan’s food, and is inspired by his growing up years in India intertwined with his love for all things Thai. His signature yogurt sphere comes first; as soon as you pop it into your mouth, it bursts with flavours. Other classics include the Charcoal, a dish which appears as a crisp black orb. Another course that made us squeamish until tried is ‘Lick It Up’, where diners are expected to lift the square plate and bring it to their mouths to—you guessed it—lick it up. The meal concludes with hearty bowls of rice and palak paneer, offering a homecoming amid the otherworldly ambience of the luxury store.

THE LV STORE

The highlight of this experience is the LV store itself, the brand’s sixth outpost in Bangkok, which launched on February 28 this year. From the historic Champs-Élysées flagship in Paris to the striking maison in New York’s SoHo district, LV has consistently elevated the retail experience.

On the second floor, the Louis Vuitton store offers an immersive shopping experience where vintage furniture resides along with breathtaking artworks. You can explore exclusive offerings like the Alma Nano Rainbow in four colours, a women’s Cruise 2024 T-shirt in three hues, and a men’s LV Trainer Upcycling sneaker in a unique colourway. You can also enjoy a hot-stamping service featuring the “Nong Vivienne” design for a personalised touch.

LE CAFÉ LOUIS VUITTON

Cake and coffee after a long day of shopping in Bangkok is just what the heart wants. The French fashion house turns that dream into reality. 

The café’s interior exhibits an “inside-out” theme—a thick curtain of botanical planters cocoon this space, pop-coloured furnitures are peppered around, and the monogrammed parquet floor perfectly channels Louis Vuitton’s Objets Nomades collection. You’ll spot Vivienne in various sizes—from holding a cake in her miniature version to appearing larger than life, as a corner artifact, waiting to be Instagrammed.

On the menu, you’ll find an assortment of tarts, cakes, parfaits, and ice cream sandwiches, all boasting distinctive Louis Vuitton accents and abundant monogramming. Bazaar India’s top pick is the aromatic Monogram Cake, featuring pistachio and orange blossom flavours. For a local twist, indulge in the refreshing Mango Sticky Rice Fizz—a delightful fusion of mango and sticky rice syrup, with a hint of tonic water to cool you down after a day in the sun.

Feature Image Credits: LV The Place Bangkok, The Brand 

This article originally appeared in Harper's Bazaar India, April- May, 2024 print issue. 

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