Unexpected Connections: Mikhail Gorbachev and Louis Vuitton

In the last few years, I've been writing and editing stories dealing with the luxury world -- mostly in travel, fashion, art and culture. The goal has been to produce well-crafted stories highlighting creative excellence and emerging cities experiencing a massive infusion of money and talent (think Moscow and Beijing). This stuff interests me, and, yes, I expected this could be a long-term plan for continuing and well-paid work.

Be still my beating heart: The world does not always operate according to your plan.

That was before last year's crash, of course, back when advertisers and magazines and high-end brands spent freely and risked the unexpected. (Remember that old principle? You have to spend money to make money?)

And that was back when Louis Vuitton produced a breathtaking ad -- Mikhail Gorbachev sitting in the backseat of a Rolls Royce, an LV leather bag at his side, gazing out at a section of the Berlin Wall.  The concept was developed in Paris and shot in Berlin by Annie Leibowitz. Donations were made to Gorbachev's Green Cross International and Al Gore's The Climate Project.

For me, it was really an extraordinary reminder of how much the world had changed. That the former leader of the Soviet Union could now be involved in an advertising campaign with a luxury fashion brand. That the old alliances are not the new alliances. That power has changed hands. That a former Communist boss felt free enough to reflect on his loss of influence and engage in a most unlikely partnership -- for all the world to see. 

I want to remember that fine work and share it with you here. 

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