I know saying you love Takashi Murakami is like saying you like Wes Anderson or Radiohead, but I really love Murakami. I remember when my friend gave me a Buddhafingers candy bar to munch on and we went to see the Murakami retrospective at MOCA, and I nearly lost my marbles. I was already an admirer, but when I came across the piece above — which seemed like 30 feet tall and as wide as a tractor trailer — my eyes glazed over and drool began collecting in a puddle by my Wallabees. I sat there for about 20 minutes trying to take it all in, but I just couldn’t. It was so vivid, detailed, colorful, horrific and inexplicably joyous. I ended up hanging around in that room surrounded by the happy flowers in a childlike, giddy reverie for what seemed like hours. Maybe it was only 20 minutes, who knows. All I know is those flowers were so damn happy they made me want to somersault through a field of daisies as pixies flew around my head and sprinkled my brain with fairy dust.

His collaboration with Louis Vitton is kind of a weird one, but I gotta tip my hat to the people at LV for seeing the possibilities — I mean, they can’t possibly be thrilled with how some people have appropriated their brand, so teaming up with Murakami seems like a stroke of genius. Yes, their purses were a huge hit, but I never would’ve seen that coming. Now they’ve teamed up for their Superflat First Love video below, and I’m super flattened in love! I’m going to play this in repeat whilst preparing for summer weekend fun…