With a dedication to luxury and practicality, Louis Vuitton designed his unique lightweight, airtight luggage in 1854 and ensured that jetsetters all over the globe could travel in comfort and style. It was a creation that founded a fashion house and became a standard-bearer for all travel pieces of the future. Exploring the history from traditional box-making to the revolution of the stackable trunk to modern-day artistic collaborations, the book captures the story and craftmanship behind this status symbol and how the luggage continues to define the spirit of travel. From the unmistakable Monogram canvas to the unpickable lock, the steamer trunk to the Speedy, every detail and feature is unveiled.

This volume is an unprecedented history of Louis Vuitton’s women’s bags, the most coveted line of accessories in women’s fashion. At the heart of Louis Vuitton are its City Bags, a range of women’s bags that dates back to the turn of the twentieth century. Featuring the trademark monograms of the house, the City Bag story began with the Steamer, a resort bag designed in 1901 to be packed inside a much larger steamer trunk. These bags have in a hundred years formally diversified into a dizzying array of handbags for every conceivable function demanded by the modern woman. Profoundly influential, City Bags are now known to millions by their descriptive names (Keepall, Bucket, Papillon, Alma, Locket, Noe, Speedy) and are still evolving into more fantastical forms. Lavishly illustrated with new and archival photography, historical graphics, landmark editorials, and ad campaigns, the volume traces the history of these specific bag families, and examines the earliest specimens and today’s most sought-after collectibles, including Vuitton’s collaborations with Takashi Murakami, Stephen Sprouse, Richard Prince, Yayoi Kusama, and Rei Kawakubo and one-off projects by Zaha Hadid, Shigeru Ban, Vivienne Westwood, Helmut Lang, Andrée Putman, and of course, Marc Jacobs. Louis Vuitton: City Bags is an ambitious volume on the creation and cultivation of a cultural phenomenon.

- With access to previously unpublished information, the author tells the story of the founder of the world-famous luxury French luggage and travel goods company, Louis Vuitton This lively biography narrates the story of Louis Vuitton (1821-1892), who, at the age of 14, set out on foot for Paris from his native village in the Jura mountains and ultimately became one of the most successful manufacturers of luggage and leather goods in the world. Arriving in the metropolis at age 16, he was taken on as an apprentice at the atelier of Monsieur Maréchal, where expert packers and talented custom box and luggage makers catered to a wealthy clientele. He perfected his craft there, becoming the personal packer and luggage maker for the Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III. In 1854 he opened his own atelier, and with access to the highest levels of society and a gift for innovation and design, he was on his way to an illustrious career. This book, full of previously unpublished information, reveals the story behind the man and the legendary luxury goods empire he founded.

A beautifully illustrated journey through the history of travel--and traveling in style--from one of the world's preeminent fashion brands The mid-19th and early 20th centuries heralded new means of transport and equipment and, with them, new and original ways of exploring the world. Transatlantic liners, automobiles, long-haul airplanes, zeppelins, and express trains unfurled new horizons and changed travel itself into an adventure. Distant lands were no longer solely accessible to aristocrats, explorers, and adventurers. Instead, the world opened up to new groups of people eager to circumvent the globe. And for many of these new globetrotters, traveling was synonymous with Louis Vuitton, the French label whose iconic and functional luggage trunks could be found on nearly every boat, plane, car, and train around the world. In this beautiful book, author Francisca Mattéoli recounts 50 tales of thrilling travel undertaken in every possible mode of transit, from the hot air balloon to the space shuttle, each lavishly illustrated with more than 300 historical photographs and ephemera from Louis Vuitton's official archives. Louis Vuitton: Extraordinary Voyages is a journey all its own--an evocative and transporting account of the most surprising and transformative trips taken since the 19th century.

Trains and steamships transformed transportation in the mid-19th century and opened the world to a new breed of traveler. Louis Vuitton understood the need for more practical luggage, and strove to create products that were adaptable to all situations--and the travel trunk was born. Authors Pierre Leonforte and Eric Pujalet-Plaa curate 100 of the finest trunks the Louis Vuitton company has produced on commission, including boxes made for movie stars from Douglas Fairbanks to Sharon Stone and couturiers from Jeanne Lanvin to Karl Lagerfeld, as well as cases designed for Ernest Hemingway, Leopold Stokowski, and Damien Hirst. Illustrated with 600 images taken from the Louis Vuitton archives and new photographs made especially for this book, this is the definitive history of personalized objects of both practicality and luxury.

A pocket-sized and fully illustrated story of one of the world's most luxurious fashion houses.

From Louis Vuitton's Second French Empire pageantry to the brand's Far East launch; from the classic LV travel chest to Nicolas Ghesquières's trunk-inspired collection; and from the house's emblematic monogram, to recent creations merging it with daring designs from contemporary artists, this volume tells the story of Louis Vuitton, the fashion house that embodies the spirit of travel and quintessentially French elegance the world over. Explore the people, the places, and the clients at the heart of the Louis Vuitton story--the kings and princesses, intrepid explorers and prima donnas, fantastic creations, objects, and accessories--which imbue Louis Vuitton with the spirit of travel. Discover the evolutions in technology and design that have proved essential to the success of this extraordinary brand. The work offers a journey into the Louis Vuitton universe, the brand's rich history, and its passionate defense of quality craftsmanship, art, and artists. With insight from the Vuitton archives, this work reveals the constantly evolving design inspiration that is central to the brand, walking the line between classic style and modernity.