S T Y L E & D E S I G N
Louis Vuitton
He reinvented handbags with coated canvas and logos a-go-go.
By James Scully
Monday, February 9, 2004
When Louis Vuitton (the man, not the monogram) set off for Paris
on foot from Anchay, France, at age 14, he could never have
imagined the fashion frenzy he would one day create. Now, 150
years later, his handbags are coveted by everyone from Beyonce to
Renee Zellweger. The Murakami alone generated more than $300
million in sales.
The young Vuitton, who apprenticed with a Parisian trunkmaker
before getting a job as Empress Eugenie's packer, struck gold
when the arrival of steam engines and ocean liners created a
craze for fashionable trunks. Vuitton's idea--to make them
stackable and waterproof and, later, to cover them in
logo-stamped canvas--was a hit. Soon a Who's Who of well-heeled
world leaders was buying up Vuitton bed trunks and wardrobe
cases. Even Coco Chanel couldn't resist, ordering one of the
first Vuitton handbags. Today it's hard to walk through an
airport or down an avenue without spotting an LV logo.
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His life and death recalled in images
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