The appreciation task for luxury brand–artist collaborations

We address calls for transformative luxury research (TLR) to investigate how luxury brand–artist collaborations inspire social changes. The paper demonstrates the value-laden contextual theorising from the single case of the Louis Vuitton–Yayoi Kusama collaboration in 2023. We applied the practice theory-based framework of transformation of practice as the conceptual tool of this theorising. Through the lens of practice theory, we found that collaborations between luxury brands and artists transform aesthetic practices in ways that differ from the purpose of art if the purpose of focal art is not explained to consumers. Consumers do not appreciate the purpose in this case but act according to decoration practice. We suggest an appreciation of the purpose of the focal art as a relevant outcome of luxury brands–artists collaborations—we call it an appreciation task, which enriches the consumers by transforming their decoration-centric practices into appreciation-centric ones. Our study may assist managers in implementing outstanding luxury brand–artist collaborations by suggesting that the value of such collaborations lies in their ability to enact meaningful social and cultural transformations. Managers could consider appreciation of the purpose of the focal art as a relevant outcome of such collaborations (appreciation task) that enriches the consumers (meaningful social change). Luxury brand managers should actively communicate the artistic message behind collaborations, ensuring that consumers appreciate the deeper aesthetic and cultural significance rather than merely the visual appeal of the artworks. Our findings extend the current understanding of luxury brand–artist collaborations by demonstrating how these partnerships can inspire social change. We show that practice theory is better equipped to guide a shift in luxury brand studies towards social change than artification and art infusion categories.