In 1854, 19 years after the young French carpenter Louis Vuitton packed his bags and walked (yes, walked!) from his native Jura to Paris, he opened a small business that offered “specialty packing for fashion.” It addressed an emerging need: As people started traveling for pleasure, they required delicate handling and transportation for their opulent outfits. Vuitton, who had already apprenticed for a box maker on rue Saint-Honoré, saw a way to reinvent the day’s leather luggage too. Why not replace that bulky, curved lid, meant to prevent leakage, with a stackable, flat surface of waterproof canvas?
It was an instant icon. And soon every other trunk manufacturer was producing something similar. But Vuitton set his designs apart with creative fabrics—a red-striped canvas (1870s), a graphic Damier check (1888), and, finally,…
You're reading a preview of
Architectural Digest (Digital) - 1 Issue, December 2021