Join us as we pay tribute to the life and legacy of the design genius in conjunction with the 200th anniversary of his birth.

Everybody loves an underdog story. To root for the timid high school girl as she overcomes her fears and claims her spot in the spotlight, the scrawny boy on the team before he hits a home run or the rebellious teen who leaves his home in the isolated, heavily-wooded mountain enclave in the French Jura region in pursuit of a better life in the bustling, obscenely extravagant Paris.

<a href="https://www.lofficielmalaysia.com/art/louis-vuitton-presents-the-toupie-horizon-speaker">Louis Vuitton</a>, the very personification of modern luxury brand Louis Vuitton, was indeed an underdog. He&rsquo;s the boy we have all been rooting for, one whose story we have seen evolved into an epic.

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The young Vuitton was no older than 14 years old when he set off for Paris. Taking with him the carpenting skills he inherited from his family, he began the arduous journey, travelling to the capital on foot before finding himself somewhere between Place de la Madeleine and Rue Saint-Honor&eacute; a couple of years later. It was there that he landed the apprenticeship with the trunk-maker extraordinaire Romain Marechal, further honing his craft while studying the social, political and economic shifts around him as he calculated his next move.

Louis Vuitton Paris Store, 1 rue Scribe, circa 1872. Photograph. Horse-drawn vans, parked in front of the Store, deliver trunks manufactured in Asnières.

Illustration of Louis Vuitton 

Louis Vuitton maison in Paris 

Train travel with Louis Vuitton trunks

By 1854, after nearly two decades of hard work and perseverance, Vuitton had established himself as the next big thing, the &ldquo;packer&rdquo; of fashion, with the founding of his own maison on Rue Neuve-des-Capucines in the heart of the Place Vendome neighbourhood. His star particularly rose during the time of his reimagining of the traditional trunk as he created a version with a lighter and stronger build, offering the town&rsquo;s bon vivants a steadfast carrier that promised to keep safe those opulent dresses, crinolines and wide skirts while in transit.

Dans la cour des ateliers d'Asnières, vers 1888.jpg

His prominence in fashion was also validated by the company he kept, from the founder of Parisian Haute Couture Charles Frederick Worth to Empress Eugenie for whom he served as the designated trunk-maker and packer. His stature grew along with the business to the point where he needed another nexus to cater to the ever-increasing demand.

That was when he pivoted to Asni&egrave;res, a village to the northwest of Paris, and opened his now-iconic atelier. Over the years, the workshop had witnessed many legendary Louis Vuitton trunks coming to fruition.

4 historic canvases of Louis Vuitton.jpg

The Gris Trianon was one of the reinventions that had truly put him on the map. Revolutionising the standards in travel in more ways than one, the trunk was lauded for its practical flat lid feature as well as its use of coated canvas as a waterproof covering material. The introduction of the Damier canvas, which used the name of Vuitton in its outer signature for the first time, some years later supplanted the excessively imitated Gris Trianon and the striped canvas reiteration that came after it, demonstrating Vuitton&rsquo;s adamance in distinguishing himself as a brand.

Towards the end of the 19th century, the canvas was frequently paired with surprising materials including leather and aluminium. The heir of the new empire Georges Vuitton in due course took it upon himself to blend the initials of his father with those recognisable geometrical and floral patterns, creating the Monogram canvas that has become a major emblem of the house. These design heritage and signature savoir-faire have been purposefully preserved at Louis Vuitton with many of the manual gestures continuously employed at the Asni&egrave;res workshop.

Damien Hirst Trunk

Eyewear Trunk

Maison Vivienne Trunk

Malle Coiffeuse Trunk

Vendome Trunk

Supreme Skateboard Trunk

Watercolor Skateboard Trunk

Sneakers Trunk

Familiar practices such as the careful applying of glue to the Monogram canvas in order to stretch it across the wood structure and the nailing of the rigid lozine to the edges and corners of a trunk to ensure solidity are still very much in the handbook. The house also invests in state-of-the-art fixtures, striking the perfect balance between tradition and technology, especially with the cutting machine that uses a computer program to apply extreme precision as it slices the precious leather that&rsquo;s used to create the brand&rsquo;s leather goods.

A visionary who was always ahead of his time, Louis Vuitton would be pleased to see that the legacy he left behind for the future generations, in a spirit of permanent innovation and constantly at the service of &ldquo;travel&rdquo;, lives on and lives well.

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Visit <a href="https://eu.louisvuitton.com/eng-e1/stories/louis-200">louisvuitton.com</a> to discover&nbsp;more about Louis 200.

Louis 200: A retrospective celebrating Louis Vuitton's rich heritage

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