Travelling show

In its 160-year history, Louis Vuitton has epitomised the glamorous allure of travel, as a new exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris demonstrates. By Bethan Holt

Louis Vuitton is celebrating its 160th anniversar y with a glamorous exhibition

As the site of many a buzzy designer show, Paris’s Grand Palais is a natural choice for an exhibition from one of France’s most storied fashion houses. But Louis Vuitton’s decision to stage Volez! Voguez! Voyagez! (Fly! Sail! Travel!) within the art-nouveau building has deeper roots than mere modern-style-scene kudos.

It was Louis Vuitton’s son, Georges, who helped to cement the maison’s status as an ultra-luxurious purveyor of luggage and leather goods with his invention of the iconic monogram canvas in 1896. He was also extensively involved in the Exposition Universelle, a show of new innovations and discoveries that drew 48 million visitors to Paris in 1900 and in which – you guessed it – the Grand Palais played a starring role.

famous fans of Louis Vuitton have included Omar Sharif, Liza Minnelli, Joan Collins and Audrey Hepburn.

a Louis Vuitton steamer bag from 1901; poster from the Paris expo of 1900, which was held at Grand

Palais, also the site of the new exhibition

Volez! Voguez! Voyagez! – which is art directed by opera director Robert Carsen – ofers a 160-year view of Louis Vuitton, from the maison’s 1854 inception and its frst travelling wardrobes to its establishment as a global brand.

Curator Olivier Saillard – who has previously overseen Balenciaga, Comme des Garçons and Azzedine Alaïa retrospectives – notes in his introduction to the retrospective that ‘the exhibition retraces the unique progression that turned travel into a concept that breathed new life into fashion and daily necessity’. In the early years, clients were ‘elegant ladies who were followers of Empress Eugénie’, the wife of Napoleon III who made intrepid (for the time) journeys to Algiers and Egypt.

Fast forward to now and travel is a major part of the Vuitton look. Nicolas Ghesquière’s designs have reimagined luggage classics: the clutch-sized Petite Malle bag is a take on the traditional trunk, which Julianne Moore and Jennifer Connelly have employed for trips down the red carpet. Meanwhile, menswear designer Kim Jones has ventured to Japan and Jaipur for inspiration. Vuitton’s luggage in it purest form is still a hit, with matching sets of seven or eight monogrammed cases de rigueur for modern jetsetters from Anna Wintour to the Kardashians.

Volez! Voguez! Voyagez! emphasises how travelling isn’t merely a case of getting from A to B, but is as much about a ‘dream’. Of one’s very own Louis Vuitton trunk, perhaps? Volez! Voguez! Voyagez! is on until February 21, 2016

‘The exhibition retraces the unique progression that turned travel into a

concept that breathed new life into fashion and daily necessity.’ Travelling isn’t merely a case of getting from A to

B, but is as much about a ‘dream’