The iconic Parisian brand is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year
It is without question that Louis Vuitton ranks among the world’s most valuable luxury brands. But did you know that it is rooted in humble beginnings? In celebration of its founder’s what would be the 200th anniversary of his birth, we take a walk down memory lane to celebrate the memory of Louis Vuitton himself.
He was born on August 4, 1821, in Anchay, a small working-class settlement in the French Jura area. His father Xavier Vuitton was a farmer and his mother Corinne Gaillard was a milliner, who passed away when Louis was only 10. Tired of the provincial life and not getting along with his strict stepmother, Louis left home at the tender age of 13 to seek his fortunes elsewhere.
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For two years, he travelled by foot to Paris, doing odd jobs to support himself along the 470km journey roughly the length from Penang to Melaka). He finally arrived in the French capital in 1837, in the midst of the industrial revolution.
The 16-year-old apprenticed himself to Romaine Maréchal, who runs a successful trunk making and packing workshop in rue Saint-Honoré, deemed a well-respected and lucrative trade at a time where horse-drawn carriages and boats were the main modes of transport. Travellers called upon experts like Maréchal to pack their personal belongings in custom-designed boxes. Vuitton stayed on for 17 years, honing his skill in packing and the artisanal craft of trunk making, solidifying his reputation as one of the best in the city among Paris’ fashionable class.
In fact, he counts Empress Eugénie de Montijo, the wife of Napoleon III, as one of his esteemed clients. Her patronage opened up greater opportunities for him to cater to a new class of elite and royal clientele, paving the way to open up his own business.
The year 1854 was a special one for him. Aged 33 and newly married, he established his company in 4 Rue Neuve-des-Capucines near Place Vendôme, the legendary square where leading jewellery and fashion maisons were established. There he began laying the foundation of his business—luggage trunks—and set himself apart from the competition.
Marketing himself as a specialist packer for fashion and fragile objects, it was he who introduced flat-topped rectangular trunks as opposed to the dome-topped trunks that were de rigueur at the time (curved lids were the norm for stagecoaches so rain could easily slide off). And instead of using traditional leather which can get mouldy and smelly in the tropics, he used canvas to cover trunks that are made with sturdy poplar wood.
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