Last night, after retailers reported dismal sales for December and many warned that their profits would take a hit, Louis Vuitton and designer Marc Jacobs celebrated the launch of a limited-edition capsule collection of accessories and apparel inspired by artist Stephen Sprouse.

The collection, which follows a collaboration between Messrs. Jacobs and Sprouse in 2001, is timed to coincide with a new book on the late artist by Roger Padilha and Mauricio Padilha and a retrospective at New York's Deitch Gallery.

Vuitton executives acknowledged that the luxury goods landscape has changed in recent months, but expressed confidence that the $1180 Day-Glo graffiti Speedy 30 bags and $755 neon slingbacks would attract customers. "I think we'll be lucky if we have any stock left in the next month and a half," Daniel Lalonde, president and chief executive officer of Louis Vuitton North America, says. A spokeswoman for Louis Vuitton would not say how many of each item would be produced for the Sprouse collection.

"You're either going to love it or you're going to hate it. I'm fine with either reaction," Mr. Jacobs said of the new collection.

As for the impact of the global economic crisis on his work for next season, Mr. Jacobs said only this: "I'm a thoughtful person, so I take in everything that's going on in my own world and the world around me."