Monsieur Louis Vuitton opened his first store in Paris in 1854. The same year he introduced his now iconic trunks with canvas coverings. Since then his name has become synonymous with the ultimate in luxurious luggage. His trunks managed to achieve the iconic status because they combined pragmatism with elegance. They adapted perfectly to the means of transport and the changing lifestyle of his customers.
Abrams has just published Louis Vuitton : 100 Legendary Trunks which has been dubbed the best luxury book of the year. The book has been illustrated with almost six hundred images taken from the Louis Vuitton archives in France and some newly commissioned photographs specially taken for the project. It was a time when travelling to a foreign land involved adventure, romance and style and the Vuitton trunk became the icon of that golden age of travel.
The trunks featured in the book have been divided into five sections according to the people who owned them: Explorers & Adventurers, Crowned Heads & Aristocrats, Dandies & Fashionable Ladies, Artists & Scholars, and Hedonists & Eccentrics. The inventiveness and the ingenuity that have gone into making the trunks are remarkable. Every featured trunk is extraordinary in many ways. Some of the great contemporary trunks have also been included in the book.
Via elitechoice