Louis Vuitton: from artisanal trunks to blurring fashion lines

In the summer of 2018, Louis Vuitton presented its Men’s Spring/summer 2019 collection during Paris Fashion Week. They do this every year, so initially this brings nothing new under the horizon. However, there was something special going on. Louis Vuitton’s Spring/Summer 2019 is the first collection designed under the supervision of Virgil Abloh. The first African-American creative director of a major fashion house and the first black director at Louis Vuitton, a bold move only fit for a house like Louis Vuitton Malletier.

Because what once started as a family-owned, artisanal trunk manufacturer has now developed into the world’s most valuable luxury brand by doing daring collaborations and exciting innovations ever since the brand was registered by its name-giver in Paris in 1854.

Louis Vuitton was born in 1821 in the east of France as a son to a father who was a farmer and a mother who was a hatmaker. His parents both died while he was still a child, and legend says that Vuitton decided to walk 470 kilometers at the age of thirteen to Paris, where he would become an apprentice in a workshop of box maker and packer monsieur Marechal. There he would learn the craft of luggage making.

As said, in 1854, at the age of 33, Vuitton opened his own shop, specializing in careful packaging of valuable objects and fashion. Four years later, Vuitton created the first stackable waterproof trunks that would revolutionize the luggage industry. Up until then, luggage was rounded to prevent water from seeping through the fabric. Vuitton’s strong canvas trunks were waterproof and rectangular and therefore stackable.

Throughout the nineteenth century, Vuitton made a name for himself among the French elite of Paris as the best personal luggage manufacturer there is. He was the personal trunk maker of Empress Eugenie de Montijo, and through her social surroundings his clientele expanded quickly. He also held patents on several unbreakable locks. A blueprint for the trunks that are still made in Asnières, a suburb near Paris where Louis Vuitton’s company has always been located.

When Louis Vuitton died at the age of 70 in 1892, it was taken over by his son Georges. Four years later the company launched the iconic signature Monogram Canvas and made the worldwide patents on it. The Monogram is inspired by the pattern of four-petal flowers on the Gien earthenware tiles in the family kitchen in Asnières, and would eventually turn out to be the iconic LV monogram that is ubiquitous in today’s metropolitan street scenes. Georges Vuitton also further developed his father’s locks to perfection. He even challenged the famous American magician Harry Houdini to try and escape one of his trunks by putting an add in a newspaper. Houdini never responded, but the locks were so trustworthy that they are still used in LV’s trunks today.

Through its luggage, trunks, and city bags such as the Speedy, Keepall, Papillon, and Noe, Louis Vuitton has become one of the most popular luxury brands in the world right now. Since its merger with Moët et Chandon and Hennessy into LVMH in 1987, the conglomerate has grown out into one of the most powerful companies in the business, with Louis Vuitton as one of its leading flagships.

In 1997 Louis Vuitton revolutionized by assigning Marc Jacobs as their artistic director in charge of its first ready to wear fashion collection in 1998. Louis Vuitton’s Catwalk debut was an instant hit. Jacobs worked together with several reputable artists such as Takashi Murakami, Pharrell Williams and Stephen Sprouse. Next to fashion, accessories, and luggage, Louis Vuitton invested a lot in the art and architecture of its flagship stores and opened a stunning museum in Paris with the Fondation Louis Vuitton. An initiative of LVMH director Bernard Arnault, designed by American architect Frank Gehry.

In 2011 the predecessor of Virgil Abloh, Kim Jones, was assigned as LV’s first menswear artistic director. Together with Jacobs, Jones brought Louis Vuitton towards its relevant status of today. Louis Vuitton has become a synonym for luxury and style, especially among the nouveau riche, thanks to its recognizable logos and Monogram.

Over the years, the Louis Vuitton Monogram has become so iconic that it has been used in many different renditions. Ever since Marc Jacobs was in charge, and succeeded by French designer Nicolas Ghesquière, the brand has made bold moves by collaborating with artists and people outside of the luxury fashion realm. Yayoi Kusama, Jeff Koons, Marc Newson, Kanye West, Hiroshi Fujiwara have all given their creative treatment to the vast variety of products the company has to offer.

The most groundbreaking, however, was the collaboration with New York skating brand Supreme in 2017. Kim Jones made the bold move to make a joint collection consisting of key items from both brands and merging the Monogram with the straightforward red and white Supreme colorway. He was given a lot of criticism, but the collection sold out (as is always the case with Supreme) immediately. Some of the items have been resold for over five times more, marking the collaboration the definite erasure of the line between streetwear and high fashion.

Perhaps it is therefore not that surprising that Jones was succeeded by Virgil Abloh to lead the menswear department at LV. When we had an interview about the fading lines between luxury fashion and streetwear for This Is Not A F*cking Street Style Book, he probably already knew he was going to cross those lines even further as the new director at LV. Only a few months later Abloh would showcase his first collection in Paris. With a crying Kanye West (AKA the Louis Vuitton Don) and Parisian students who were invited by Abloh to sit sideline at the rainbow colored catwalk. The first black man to lead Louis Vuitton also casted models from every continent in the world, and created a platform for several artists to showcase their work or music during the show. A new bold way that was paved by Marc Jacobs and Kim Jones specifically, once created by a thirteen year old farmer’s son who walked to Paris, and now means the future of a several billion Euros industry.