Uniqlo's Mona Lisa-inspired collection is making us smile

In lieu of physically visiting a gallery or museum, we suggest you splash some artworks across your torso instead. Luckily, Uniqlo’s latest collection with the Musée du Louvre in Paris, can provide you with all the artistic inspiration you need.

The Japanese retailer’s latest UT (Uniqlo T-shirt) collection features a range of men’s and women’s hoodies, sweaters and t-shirts with graphics and logos which have been inspired by the 35,000 artworks on show in the Louvre’s hallowed exhibition halls, including Da Vinci's Mona Lisa and the ancient Greek statues Winged Victory of Samothrace and Venus de Milo.

The graphic greatness behind the offering? Uniqlo tapped famed British graphic designer and art director Peter Saville to create the collection. Designed around the theme ‘Art and Logic’, Saville has focused on the logic hidden in art, including the concept of the ‘golden ratio’ and the inventory numbers attributed pieces in the museum.

‘I was intrigued by the fact that at the Louvre, the world-famous Mona Lisa is known as painting “No. INV 779” which is its internal inventory number,’ Saville says. ‘I thought that exploring that viewpoint on a T-shirt would be appropriate for this UT/ Louvre collaboration.’

Graphic and colourful, the pieces in the UT collection have a streetwear-centric, merch-focused sensibility, subverting the luxury logo with the numerical listings associated with an artwork. We think the pieces are greater than any you'd find in a gallery gift shop.

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