LUXURY LIVING TRAVEL u
90 LUXURY LIVING
For 20 years, Louis’ s Vuitton continued to operate out of 1 Rue Scribe, innovating high-quality, luxury luggage, until he died on February 27, 1892, at the age of 70, but the Louis Vuitton line did not die with its eponymous founder. Under the direction of his son Georges Vuitton, the company began a campaign to build the company into a worldwide corporation, exhibiting the company’ s products around the world launching the signature Monogram Canvas under a worldwide patent. Its graphic symbols, including quatrefoils and flowers( as well as the LV monogram), were based on the trend of using Japanese and Oriental designs of the late Victorian era.
Under the guise of George Vuitton the Louis Vuitton Company introduced the Steamer Bag, a smaller piece of luggage designed to be kept inside Vuitton luggage trunks, the Keepall Bag, the Noé Bag made for champagne vintners to transport bottles and the Speedy Bag. In 1936 Georges Vuitton died, and his son, Gaston-Louis Vuitton, assumed control of the company and in 1966, the Papillon was launched( a cylindrical bag that is still popular today).
In 1987 Louis Vuitton merged with Moët Hennessy a company formed in 1987 after the merger of prestigious cognac makers Hennessy and champagne producers Moët & Chandon and became LVMH Moët Hennessy, better known as LVMH. The label also opened its first stores in Japan: in Tokyo and Osaka and later expanded its presence in Asia with the opening of a store in Taipei, Taiwan in 1983 and Seoul, South Korea in 1984. By 1989, Louis Vuitton had come to operate 130 stores worldwide.
Entering into a new decade of the 1990s and having operated for over 136 years the brand continued its expansion and opened its first Chinese location at the Palace Hotel in Beijing. Further products were introduced such as the Taiga leather line in 1993, and the literature collection of Voyager Avec... in 1994.
Under the guidance of Marc Jacobs its Artistic Director in 1997, Louis Vuitton released the company’ s first“ prêt-à-porter” line of clothing for men and women, and in 2001, Stephen Sprouse, in collaboration with Marc Jacobs, designed a limited-edition line of Vuitton bags that featured graffiti written over the monogram pattern. This design was to become Louis Vuitton’ s most successful collection, Jacobs also created the charm bracelet, the first ever piece of jewellery from Louis Vuitton.
Over the coming years Louis Vuitton has introduced, the Tambour watch collection, the new Monogram Multicolore canvas range of handbags and accessories, the Speedy watch collection & the Damier Graphite canvas and has inaugurated stores in New York City, São Paulo, Mexico City, Cancun and Johannesburg, Shanghai, Champs-Élysées store in Paris and in 2010, Louis Vuitton opened what it described as their most luxurious store in London.
With stores in every continent it is little wonder that Louis Vuitton is regarded as the most prestigious brand globally and is loved and adorned by stars and A-list celebrities alike who, even today with our fast paced methods of travel mirror that of the Paris elite of 1854 will not be seen dead travelling without there LV luggage.