Louis Vuitton is a name synonymous with luxury. I’ve had the privilege of learning the history of Louis Vuitton by touring the facility where these luxury handbags are crafted. The brand itself is rich in history, beginning with the founder, Louis Vuitton himself and the savoir-faire that brought him to global recognition.
HERITAGE
Louis Vuitton came to Paris as an apprentice at the age of 16. The small French village he grew up in was surrounded by trees, inspiring his woodworking skills. He developed his skills by studying a master of trunk making. In the early 1800s trunks were bound in leather and round on top to prevent water from pooling which would damage the wood.
The leather was heavy and the trunks were impossible to stack. Vuitton founded his own trunk making company in 1854 and revolutionized the travel industry with a material he developed called cotton canvas. This material was incredibly lightweight and finished with a water resistant seal.
Thanks to his invention trunks could be flat topped again and Louis Vuitton was fulfilling orders for the finest clients in the world. Empresses, Maharajas, globe trotters and designers were requesting custom pieces and Louis Vuitton made them all. He even created a trunk that converted into a bed for Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza during his exploration of the Congo.
Pictured above is Gaston-Louis lounging on the trunk bed, Louis in the driver’s seat and Georges Vuitton third to the left above the trunk.
PRINTS
Imitators soon tried to latch onto the success of Vuitton’s material so he designed a pattern in 1888 called Damier to be his signature. The pattern was checkered and had Vuitton’s name diagonally in boxes. In 1896 after Louis Vuitton passed, his son George invented a pattern to honor his father. He incorporated a flower that was influenced by the medieval flowers found on the stained glass windows of the Notre Dame.
This was a tribute to the walks he would take with his late father around the famous cathedral. He interlocked his father’s initials LV and created the iconic monogram print. This type of pattern was controversial and groundbreaking because letters weren’t commonly used to represent brands in this era.
The Damier Azur was inspired by the Côte d’Azur with the white squares representing the sand and the grey squares representing the sea.
LEGACY
Louis Vuitton’s son Georges was an inventor. He followed in his father’s footsteps of anticipating his clients needs. He created a 5 tumbler lock made to be un-pickable. Houdini was challenged to try to unpick this lock but he never did.
Gaston-Louis is the grandson of Louis Vuitton, known as a traveler, collector and aesthete. He gathered stickers from all over the world and had quite an impressive collection used to customize his trunk. A service that’s available today in made to order LV products.
Gaston-Louis also created the brand’s first fragrance Heures D’Absence in 1927. The windows of the Champs-Elysees store are where Gaston-Louis would unleash his creativity on displays even having live crocodiles on one occasion.
HOW TO SHOP
Consider the purpose you want the bag to serve. When it comes to handbags and luggage, the material is a major factor – durable leather vs. lightweight canvas. Brand recognition is usually a preference for shoppers. Is it important that everyone knows the label of the bag or do you lean toward subtlety? Lastly do you want something trendy or timeless?
For example, a nylon strap is very trendy for the moment but a leather strap is timeless. See the timeline for classic styles of the maison (below photo).
Customization is the perfect way to differentiate your item. Complimentary engraving for Perfume bottles initials or a special date is available. Another complimentary service is letter stamping on leather luggage tags and wallet interiors. These options make the purchase final and completely unique to you.
If anything happens to your product you can rest easy knowing that Louis Vuitton offers repairs on their products for a service fee. However, cotton canvas tears or cracks aren’t repairable so treat your products gently. With the proper care these luxury products can last generations.
Louis Vuitton is a brand that inspires you to dare, to have audacity, to dream. A household name all started with one 16 year old’s ambition. Centuries later the legacy lives on and is a leader in the fashion industry with stores in every corner of the globe.