The Art Of Retail

Deciding how much time to spend shopping and how much to devote to the city's splendid art galleries has long been a dilemma facing visitors to Paris — but with the opening of Espace Louis Vuitton, a gallery housed on the seventh floor of the luxury leather brand's newly renovated Champs-Elysées store, there's a chance to indulge in the chic and the cultural under one roof. Visitors have the option of being taken to the gallery in the all-black elevator pictured here or using a separate entrance at 60, Rue de Bassano. Upon arrival, they can expect to see modern art

that blurs theboundaries between self-expression and mere branding.

A current exhibition, by New York City artist Vanessa Beecroft, features images of female nudes contorted to form (what else?) the letters that make up Louis Vuitton's name.

Future exhibitions will revolve around the themes of travel, art and fashion. Purists may deplore this retailer's stab at art curating, but worldly tourists may welcome it as a consummately modern form of multitasking.