The Louis Vuitton-Exhibition “Volez, Voguez, Voyagez” (flying, sailing, traveling) is currently shown at the Grand Palais in Paris

I still remember my first Louis Vuitton-Handbag: the ‘Speedy’, a classical bag, which my grandmother gave me for my passed “Abitur” certificate. My pride and joy that I carried around like a trophy for years, a favorite bag full of memories that I could never get rid of.

“Mine”: The suitcase of Elizabeth Taylor

In fact I don’t really like bags with logos that others can see from 100 meters of distance. But a Louis-Vuitton bag presents a classical elegance and therefore has a special position beneath the ‘logo-bags’: That’s why I’m a fan and the reason for my visit to the ongoing exhibition “Volez, Voguez, Voyagez” at the Grand Palais in Paris. “Volez, Voguez, Vozagez” is a time journey through 160 years of Louis Vuitton’s success story and has been curated by prestigious fashion historian Olivier Saillard, who’s also the head of the new Parisian Fashion Museum in the Palais Galliera. For the opulent optic Saillard engaged artistic director and set designer Robert Carsen, who ensured a felicitous flamboyance at the Parisian exhibition “The Impressionism and the Fashion” with his design in 2014.

The young Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton, the son of a carpenter, was only 14 years old when he hit the road from the homey Jura to Paris in 1835. He temped for his subsistence during his journey, which is why it took him nearly two years until he reached the French capital. He found an apprenticeship at Rue Saint-Honoré, even then the street of the luxury addresses. In the age of 33 years Vuitton went into business by himself as a case maker. His packaging guaranteed a safe transport, even for the most fragile objects.

Louis Vuitton was the founder of the modern luggage. With his “Steamer Bag” (on the right) he firstly created a bag that was soft and flexible

What an ingenious idea to develop a material out of coated canvas and to provide it with the own initials. With this idea Louis Vuitton succeeded at the right time: those days mark the beginning of the Haute Couture and its adventurous wearers needed suitcases for every kind of travelling, from railway, automobile to ocean liner.

Louis Vuitton had also customized solutions for booklovers

The extraordinary client-wishes Louis Vuitton went after are unbelievable: XXL-suitcases for cruises, elaborate metal cases for expeditions or accurate boxes for the batons and valuable instruments of a collector. Between all the historical exhibits I also find lots of modern things, for example the beauty cases that have been designed by Nicolas Ghesquière in 2014. This kind of presentation underlines the timeless elegance of the Louis Vuitton-Collection. And I’m even happier about my Speedy. BvH

The typical Logo LV = Louis Vuitton

In the first room of the exhibition I could see all utensils of a wood workshop Louis Vuitton used to work with more than 150 years ago

Louis Vuitton’s personal suitcase showing his initials

I really liked the fact that you cannot only marvel into empty suitcases …

… Olivier Saillard filled the suitcases with authentic things of their time …

… from the evening gown of Elizabeth Taylor to antique picnic equipment

The exhibition covers nine topics and leads its visitors through temporal epochs …

… and opulent showrooms

Louis Vuitton was a coeval of Charles Frederick Worths, the inventor of Haute Couture …

… A mutual fertilization, as clients of the Parisian fashion houses Paul Poiret, Balenciaga or Christian Dior naturally also equipped themselves of Louis Vuitton

A catcher for the eye: one compartment of the orient express has been rebuilt for the exhibition following the former world exhibition in Paris, where visitors sat in train compartments and saw drawn landscapes rolling past

Also Lauren Bacall, Greta Garbo and Katharine Hepburn were fans of Louis Vuitton

A collection of old Louis Vuitton perfume bottles

Travel cases and bags in all sizes and for every occasion – also for air journeys

In the beginning of the 20th century his idea of travelling was yet very exciting and new

The exhibited suitcases are lovingly decorated with old accessories

Original locks by Louis Vuitton

In 1997 the “ready to wear”-collection officially became part of the Louis Vuitton collections and Marc Jacobs was named the first designer

Protective cases were designed by the trunkmaker Vuitton, whether for fragile and delicate musical instruments or a vinyl record-collection

The LV-Logo in colors

Until February 21: The exhibition “Volez, Voguez, Voyagez” can be seen at the Grand Palais, which was built in 1900 in Paris for one of the most spectacular World Exhibitions with 48 million visitors

For more information:

http://de.louisvuitton.com/deu-de/grand-palais/grand-palais#/home

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The bag “Spacie” from the current Stiebich & Rieth collection in the color cobalt blue*

When Julia Rieth and Detlfef Stiebich first met in Hamburg, they both worked as designers for the brand Joop, before they started to work for other labels. There, products were created on the computer, which started to bother both of them after a certain time and so they founded their own label to work on the product directly. Since 2012, handbags under the name Stiebich & Rieth are being made in traditional handicraft – made in Germany. The design duo recently got awarded the “Young Designers Award” for their craftsmanship.

Detlef Stiebich at work: All seams are prepunched in order to achieve accurate seam courses

MyStylery: Lots of the coveted designer bags come from France and Italy. Your handbags are handcrafted in Germany. Do these facts build a persuasive argument to spread your luxury segment internationally?
Detlef Stiebich: “Made in Germany” yes, but ‘handmade’ wasn’t easy in the beginning, because the purchasers got the illusion of something like arts and crafts. There was a big need of information. The breakthrough came at the Paris fashion week, where the German fashion label ODEEH offered to show our bags.

The leather comes from Italy, France and Spain and is vegetable tanned. Only natural ingredients are used as tanning agents such as tannins, chestnuts, roots, fruits or mimosa

MS: You renounce computer drafts and sketches. Your handbags are being made on the table, directly out of the material and out of your inspirations.
DS: That’s right. And before the production starts, Julia is wearing each prototype so that we can find out what we can still improve. That’s how we also design the details of our bags, as well asthe colouring, the closing mechanisms and the internal divisions. And if Julia says that nobody would wear that, one has to think from the beginning again.

All handmade: Due to the thickness of the leather, the two-needle technique is used. A bag has up to 45 items

MS: That sounds time-consuming.
DS: Absolutely (laughs). I also underestimated this in the beginning. For example in the beginning we always had problems with the knotting of the yarn at the end of the seam. So I went to Paris to Hermès to get a demo how to do it right. It takes weeks to finish a handbag. It already starts with the material: we process vegetable-tanned, solid saddle-leather, which is manufactured with an extra saddler stich due to the thickness of the leather. Luckily we found a leather manufacturer near Hamburg, who understands and commands the art of “hand-stitch-processing”. We’re accompanying each stage of the production process.

Two collections are created per year, ten different bag types in four or five colors. The bags cost between 800, – and 2.500, – Euros

MS: Your handbags are sold in Hamburg in luxury boutiques like “Linette” to the corresponding prices. Why does the client choose your product, when she could investigate a similar amount in an established brand?
DS: The simplicity and objectivity of our design convinces. Our client is self-confident and doesn’t define herself by special brand, of which everybody knows the price. Our client also wants another handbag: One, which not everybody owns. BvH

MyStylery loves… the Saddlebag “Hunter” from the latest collection. The must-have of the season!*

Kontakt:
www.stiebich-rieth.de

Featured pic and Photos* by Stiebich & Rieth

The post Dream-Bags by Stiebich & Rieth appeared first on My Stylery.