It's been almost 20 years since I started to follow fashion and high fashion brands like Louis Vuitton. I obviously knew about this brand before that but it was when I started to follow fashion shows and campaigns that I truly started to understand the brand. This book helped fill in the few gaps I still had.
We all love these types of books because they serve many purposes. They're beautiful to look at and make a great gift. They can be used as decoration around the house. That's all great but, for me, I need a bit more than that. I need them to also teach me something. So I was curious about how this book would do that task and I was very pleasantly surprised. There are photos in this book, of course. It's a fashion book so the visual element is vital. But it also has a lot of text and it's been very well put together.
I read this in one morning. Just casually reading paragraph after paragraph while having a cup of tea and I was done. I had learned so much in so little time, it was fantastic. So the purpose of this book, which is to look pretty but also teach people something in a casual setting, was completely achieved. We want these books to be picked up by that friend who is visiting to have a drink or chat about whatever is going on in their lives. They pick it up, take a look at the photos and read a few pages. Whichever page they choose to read will teach them something new so that's brilliant. And then we can chat about that fun fact on page 30. Just naming a random page to make the point here.

As I said, I'm a fashion fan. I know a lot about brands than most people won't know and yet I feel Louis Vuitton was a brand I didn't know as much about. When I first got into fashion, I heard the brand was all about the bags and the luggage but didn't know why. Reading about how this brand was created and how it revolutionised the world of luggage was what I needed to put all the pieces in the right place when it came to my knowledge of the brand. So many people choose products from this brand to travel around the world just because they're cute and good quality but are unaware of the history.
There is also information about the creative directors that have worked for the brand, which is not that many given how late the brand started to do ready-to-wear collections. But I loved reading more about the Marc Jacobs shows I was so in love with back in the day. It was one of the highlights of fashion weeks. Usually done on the last day, actually. What a great way to say goodbye to a month of fashion shows. And while reading about the pieces of luggage created by the brand, I couldn't help but remember the show with the big train and the models walking alongside people carrying their luggage. So iconic! It was really fun to then see it mentioned as one of the big productions done while Marc Jacobs was the designer.
It's also always interesting to hear about who started trends that are now so normal. Like collaborations between fashion brands and artists. It's so interesting to point out how Louis Vuitton was a pioneer brand in that regard, as they once were when it came to creating new types of luggage. Very cool to see how the brand has always been ahead of others in many ways.

I would definitely recommend this book and I'll check out the others from the same collection.

Great read that would be perfect for coffee table art! This covers the whole history of Louis Vuitton, from the early beginnings to the present day. From the history of the brand to celebrity endorsements, the depth of the brand shines in such a small book. I wish there were more photos of the vintage lines, other than that, I thought this was perfect!

Thank you netgalley for the arc!!

I have always wanted a Louis Vuitton 'Speedy' bag...I wish...sadly it's forever resigned to the bag of pipedreams.

However, this little gem made up for it 'a bit' as it regaled me with everything Vuitton, from history to handbags and everything in between.

There are some stunning images throughout of Vuitton's creations and his key pieces...the trunks, suitcases and more recently the bags and clothing.

The design of the entwined LV is synonymous with the designs and I was fascinated to learn how these came about, and also how to tell whether your Vuitton is a fake or not.

Interesting little book.