Of LV trunks and Hermes harnesses

I'm sure bag-aholics already know this but I just recently discovered these fascinating facts and inspiring stories about LV and Hermes while reading Deluxe by Dana Thomas.

Did you know that Louis Vuitton’s original products were trunks and not bags? Louis Vuitton was born in 1821 to a family of farmers and millers in France. At age 13, he set out by foot for Paris. It was a 292-mile trek which took 2 years and along the way, he worked as a stable boy and kitchen helper. When he reached Paris, he became an apprentice to a master trunk maker. Eventually, he quit and started his own business. He reworked the basic design of the trunk by changing the domed lid to a flat top and replacing the leather (which turned moldy and cracked) with a lightweight waterproof material covered with cotton canvass.

During Vuitton’s time, when you’re a trunk maker, you don’t only make trunks but you also packed and unpacked them. Vuitton had a friend who made gowns for the rich and royalty – Charles Frederick Worth - now known as the father of haute couture. Vuitton excelled in packing and unpacking delicate gowns that he became the official trunk maker for Napoleon III’s wife, empress Eugenie.

The Damier design (LV’s checkerboard print) was designed by Vuitton’s son in 1888. And the interlocking LV print was designed by the same son in 1896 in response to counterfeiting. (Imagine, there was LV counterfeiting as early as 1896!). And the rest was just history. (BTW, LV continues to make trunks up to now - only about 500 annually).

Another surprising origin is that of Hermes. Did you know that its original products were harnesses for horses? At age 15, when Thierry Hermes was orphaned, he decided to head for Paris with a friend on foot (just like Vuitton). He learned how to make harnesses and eventually started his own business in 1821. When he retired, he turned over the company to one of his sons, then eventually to his grandsons. On a trip to Argentina, one grandson saw gauchos carrying their saddles in big satchels – this saddlebag is now the highly coveted Kelly bag (renamed after Princess Grace Kelly who was photographed in 1956 by Life Magazine carrying the saddlebag to conceal her pregnancy).

The story of the other highly-coveted Hermes bag - the Birkin - is equally interesting. In 1984, on a flight from Paris to London, a British actress named Jane Birkin pulled her Hermes datebook out of her bag and suddenly, the papers fell out. She muttered how the datebook should have pockets. It so happened that the current head of Hermes (Dumas, a son-in-law of one of the Hermes grandsons) was on the same flight. She continued to grumble to Dumas that there isn’t a good weekend leather bag for women and described how she wants it to look when prompted by Dumas. Not long after, Birkin received her datebook with a pocket stitched inside the cover, and her leather weekend bag – now known as the Birkin bag.

Hermes (unlike other luxury brands who have resorted to assembly-line production) has successfully preserved its old-fashioned handcraftsmanship. Though the company makes a few bags for walk-in customers, generally its bags are made-to-order - based on customer specifications of material, color, type of hardware, etc. - thus, they are considered the last true luxury goods in the fashion industry. No wonder, Hermes can command prices that start at USD6,000 and have waiting lists that are years-long. (P.S. Did you know that Victoria Beckham reportedly has over 100 Hermes handbags worth approximately USD2 million?! Now, that's really way over-the-top...)