ALL PACKED AND READY TO GO

exhibition has added a special section that tells the story of the brand in China.

In 1907, Louis Vuitton was a partner in the first BeijingParis automobile rally, with the company’s trunks and luggage serving as a natural partner for adventure. A year later, the French philanthropist Albert Kahn began an epic journey to photograph global cultures, stopping in China to capture many images. He commissioned a special trunk from Louis Vuitton for his equipment, which will be presented at the Shanghai exhibition.

In 1931, Louis Vuitton provided trunks for a rally across Asia, from the Mediterranean to Beijing. Over 100 trunks were created to suit aspects of this extreme journey, including a version of the famous “automobile trunk” launched a year before, which will be featured in Shanghai.

For the show, Louis Vuitton has commissioned Chinese artists Xu Bing and Ding Yi to create two trunks to highlight the links between the fashion house and Chinese culture.

Xu’s trunk design has Chinese calligraphy — his signature style — and includes the English translation of contemporary Chinese poet Zhai Yongming’s poem, In Ancient Times. Zhai gave Xu the poem as a gift some 14 years ago when Xu was traveling.

Xu says he accepted the work because he feels the fashion house has “a sense of romance”, and it pursues quality while creating products and is mindful of social trends and tastes.

“That’s also what pursue,” says Xu.

Ding’s design is a cocktailand-cigar trunk that also features his signature patterns. He followed personal interests while creating it.

“I love traveling and cigars, and I enjoyed designing a trunk that can pack cigars while traveling.” I try to

PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY A Louis Vuitton trunk, habits Coiffeuse. Porte

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