Collection: Louis Vuitton

No name in luggage is as glamorous as Louis Vuitton. The brand’s signature checkered brown leather wrapped in gold monograms evokes a form of travel that harkens back to the dawn of urban exploring. In our current era—where trunks and leather suitcases have been replaced by cheap roller bags and duffels—it seems that Louis Vuitton is the only brand that still speaks the lost language of luxury travel. Simply spotting an LV bag evokes images of first class train cars and VIP lounges filled with cocktails and cigars. Baggage fees and TSA scans are suddenly a million miles away.

While other luggage houses boast lustrous histories of their own—Goyard, Moynat, Gucci, etc.—Louis Vuitton stands alone. How did the brand gain such identity, and why does the Parisian malletier seem to be our lone luggage connection to a lost way of travelling?