MOSCOW, November 27 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow's landmark GUM department store has asked French fashion house Louis Vuitton to remove a giant suitcase-shaped pavilion put up on the city’s central Red Square to house an exhibition, after local lawmakers criticized the structure as inappropriate.
The giant pavilion, measuring 33 meters (100 feet) long and nine meters (30 feet) high, adorned with the famed Louis Vuitton logo, was designed to accomodate the "Soul of Adventure" exhibition on the history of the company's luggage, running for six weeks from December 2. The exhibition, featuring historical suitcases and contemporary art video installations, is one of several events to mark the 120th anniversary of the famed Moscow department store.
“We have informed the Russian representatives of Louis Vuitton of the need to immediately dismantle the pavilion. We will also take immediate steps to remove any annoying effects of the Louis Vuitton pavilion,” a GUM spokesman said.
The GUM spokesman said the company’s decision to ask for the pavilion to be taken down was in response to the negative reaction of Russian society, and because the structure exceeds the permitted limits.
The massive construction, just steps from the mausoleum and St. Basil's Cathedral, was criticized by Russian lawmakers in the Duma, based just across the street, who said Red Square was a “sacred place of the Russian state” which could not be “trivialized.”
Louis Vuitton said the exhibition was a non-profit event aimed at raising funds to support supermodel Natalia Vodianova's charity project, the Naked Heart Foundation. The luxury brand said the pavilion has been inspired by the sketches of a trunk which belonged to Russian Prince Wladimir Orloff and had his monogram "P.W.O." in large letters on the front.
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