Louis Vuitton's Icons
Fashion and art go hand in hand on Iconique, they are intertwined and reinforce each other beautifully. In the spirit of openness that has always characterized Louis Vuitton’s relationship with its age, the “Espace Louis Vuitton”, inaugurated in January 2006, extends invitations to exponents of a wide range of cultural and artistic disciplines as well – architects, designers, writers, sculptors, photographers, video-artists and scenographers. In their exhibition 'Icons' nine designers and artists with remarkable track records pay homage to iconic Louis Vuitton bags.
Among them are Shigeru Ban, Sylvie Fleury, Zaha Hadid, Bruno Peinado, Andrée Putman, Ugo Rondinone, James Turrell, Tim White Sobieski and Bob Wilson. Each creator has been given imaginative free rein with one of the chosen bags of Louis Vuitton. The links between Louis Vuitton and the arts in this way combine in all senses, going beyond generations and frontiers.
Since 1854, Louis Vuitton has been synonymous with the art of travel. Since its creation, the House offers luggage adapted to the personal needs of travel aesthetes. The resistant trunks, combining tradition and innovation, craftsmanship and creativity, history and modernity, have become the must-have partner for elegant travellers.
JAMES TURRELL Interpreting the Wardrobe
The Wardrobe, created in 1875, designed to be opened vertically and equipped with a hanging closet, remains perhaps the most emblematic of all the Louis Vuitton trunks. It spares travellers the chore of unpacking once they reached their destination. With the birth of modern travel, additional soft multi-use luggage became necessary. Alongside rigid trunks and cases, Louis Vuitton started producing an entirely new form of luggage – soft bags. The first of these, the Steamer bag, introduced in 1901, is a big rectangular bag originally designed to store dirty linen during transatlantic crossings. But it was not until the 1930s, with the launch of the Keepall, that soft bags really made its debut in the world.
The precursor of all travel bags, the Keepall is the prototype of weekend bags. Around the same time, the first city bags appeared: the Speedy, created not long afterwards, is the reduced version of the Keepall, while the Noé was created in 1932 for a Champagne maker who needed a bag that could carry five bottles of Champagne. As the sixties dawned, the winds of change brought a new freedom with the “Nouvelle Vague” carrying all in its wake, and Louis Vuitton soft bags became cult luggage for film stars and models.
The city bag collection was further enriched with the invention of the soft Monogram canvas in 1959. The Papillon (1966), whose short handles look like butterfly wings, and the Bucket (1968), indispensable for a stroll through town, were soon joined by the Alma, inspired by a similar bag created in 1934. Finally, making its grand entrance, the Lockit, an updated version of a bag created in the 1950s, comes to join the Louis Vuitton luggage family and pays its homage to the icons of Louis Vuitton.
Discover nine icons reinterpreted by nine visionaries at Espace Louis Vuitton and here on Iconique…
Icons Exhibition from September to December 31 2006 at the “Espace Louis Vuitton”
60 rue de Bassano - 101 avenue des Champs-Élysées 75008 Paris
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