Louis Vuitton, king of the handbag and purse, can now boast another huge name in its roster of celebrity associates: Kanye West. The famous rapper is bigger than big these days, and his announcement is certainly to add to Louis Vuitton's pop culture cachet, not to mention their coffers. His plan is to release both a men's and women's line of shoes by the fall.

There's no hint yet of what the shoes might look like. Everyone's being fairly secretive about the Kanye Louis Vuitton design. With a Louis Vuitton handbag or even a Louis Vuitton purse, we would probably have a better idea of what to expect. But with West-designed shoes, who knows? All we can say is that they're bound to be highly stylish. The rapper is well known for his fashion consciousness, and he even made the announcement last week in Paris, dressed entirely in clothes from his own line.

Louis Vuitton, aside from being a purse, sunglasses and handbag giant, is well known for enlisting stars from unlikely artistic spheres to help design and sell their product. Most famously, Takashi Murakami has been an LV collaborator for the past few years, and designed the now ubiquitous Louis Vuitton Multicolor Monogram logo. Murakami even worked with Kanye on the cover of his album "Graduation." My, what a tangled web they weave!

The handbag and the purse are what Louis Vuitton does best, but it seems that more and more they are adept at tapping into new markets and new talent pools using the hottest stars of the day. So stay tuned for Kanye's shoe designs â€" we're all waiting in anticipation for them.

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