10 things to know about Louis Vuitton bags

Louis Vuitton was born in 1821 in the mountain town of Anchay, in eastern France. At the age of 14, he set off on foot to find his fortune in Paris. It was a journey of some 300 miles, and it took him more than two years.

Arriving in Paris, Vuitton became an apprentice to a box manufacturer before founding his eponymous company in 1854. In 1858, he designed a flat-topped trunk that could be stacked — a radical innovation, as hitherto curved lids had been the norm. Hired as the personal box-maker and packer to Eugénie, Empress of France, Vuitton became the travel goods manufacturer of choice among the aristocracy.

Passed from father to son, Vuitton’s business grew to include clothing, shoes, jewellery and, of course, handbags. Its iconic offerings have included the Keepall, released in 1930; the Noé bucket bag, from 1932; the Alma, from 1934 — and, more recently, Stephen Sprouse’s 2001 Graffiti bag; Takashi Murakami’s 2003 Monogram Multicolore; the Neverfull tote, released in 2007; and the Capucines, from 2013.

Loyal customers have ranged from the Duke and Duchess of Windsor to Kim Kardashian; design collaborators have included Marc Newson, Frank Gehry and Yayoi Kusama.

Thoughtful design and durable materials are the hallmarks of a Louis Vuitton bag. The Keepall, for example, is completely waterproof, while the Boreal briefcase in Taïga calfskin leather is one of the most durable on the market.

Twice a year, Louis Vuitton releases a runway collection of handbags. Known as ‘show bags’, they are produced in extremely limited quantities and only made available to VIP clients.

Often more exaggerated and complicated in style than the collection pieces, show bags stand out for their materials and craftsmanship. They are generally numbered and always marked with the season and collection for which they were produced. Perhaps the most important of these is the 2001 Graffiti, followed by the 2003 Multicolore.

A brand’s creative director can steer its identity. Marc Jacobs, one of the architects of the collectable runway handbag market, arrived at Louis Vuitton in 1997 and transformed the storied luggage company into the blockbuster fashion house it is today.

Jacobs introduced the brand’s first-ever ready-to-wear collection and launched collaborations with the likes of fashion designer Stephen Sprouse and artist Yayoi Kusama. While staying true to Louis Vuitton’s heritage, he reinvigorated the brand for a younger generation — and Virgil Abloh, the hugely influential artistic director of Louis Vuitton menswear from 2018 until his tragic death in 2021, continued to appeal to this demographic.

Louis Vuitton’s collaborations with contemporary artists have included projects with Takashi Murakami in 2003 and 2008, and Richard Prince in 2007, who created paint-splattered bags adorned with quotations. In 2013, Louis Vuitton’s menswear designer Kim Jones enlisted Jake and Dinos Chapman to develop a capsule collection known as the ‘Garden in Hell’.

Louis Vuitton constantly reinvents classic models, looking to the brand’s archive for inspiration. Some models have been produced for more than 100 years, while new styles often incorporate traditional motifs to show the evolution of the brand. The trunk clutch is a miniaturised version of the piece that first made Monsieur Vuitton a household name.

As technology and social media have amplified Vuitton’s reach, the lines between art, fashion and street culture have become blurred. The preferred trunk-maker of Europe’s aristocracy has collaborated with the hip skateboard brand Supreme, a mainstay of New York City streetwear and one of the most coveted brands in the world.

Crafted in limited quantities from the finest materials and finished in rich, deep colours, Louis Vuitton Exotics are rarely seen on the auction market. These crocodile, alligator, ostrich and snakeskin pieces represent the pinnacle of the Louis Vuitton collector market. The shine on a crocodile bag surpasses anything that can be crafted in leather.

The brand boasts one of the world’s most outstanding collections of antique trunks. Some sleep in attics, some are in museums, while others are still travelling and many are displayed in Louis Vuitton stores around the world. Although trunks might not be used as much today as in the past, they nonetheless make a stylish accessory, highlighting the traditional skills that continue to define the brand; and items such as the Keepall travel bag and the Pégase suitcase remain some of Vuitton’s best-selling pieces.

In 2012, Louis Vuitton introduced the Haute Maroquinerie service, which offers top clients the opportunity to design their own bag based on pre-selected shapes, leathers and colours. Customers can visit special design rooms to create the bag almost entirely to their specifications.

The 19th and early 20th centuries belonged to explorers and adventurers — intrepid travellers who needed luggage that would safeguard their most precious possessions. To this end, Louis Vuitton created the Explorer trunk, which came in hard-wearing zinc, copper, aluminium and brass. A rare aluminium-bound Explorer sold at Christie’s in London in 2018 for £162,500, a record broken in 2024 by a copper-bound 1925 example that fetched €189,000.

Related makers: Louis Vuitton

Learn more about how to sell your Louis Vuitton bag