Louis Vuitton Damier Malle Courrier antique trunk

Louis Vuitton: A Documentary in Chapters, 1854 to Today

Louis Vuitton began in 1854 as a Paris workshop that packed the fashions of travellers. By 1987 it had joined Moët Hennessy to form LVMH, and since 1997 it has been led by an unbroken line of creative directors who have handed the monogram to artists, architects, musicians and, again and again, to Japan. This documentary follows that line in four chapters and two companion pieces, from the trunk-maker's bench to the Cour Carrée of the Louvre in October 2026, and it gives the Japanese thread the weight it has earned.

The chapters

  • Chapter one. The Trunk-Maker's Century follows the Vuitton family from 1821 to the handover of 1977, with the Damier, the Monogram and the first travel classics.
  • Chapter two. Five Creative Directors profiles Marc Jacobs, Kim Jones, Nicolas Ghesquière, Virgil Abloh and Pharrell Williams, and the works each left behind.
  • Chapter three. Art on the Monogram sets out the artist collaborations from Stephen Sprouse to Yayoi Kusama.
  • Chapter four. Louis Vuitton and Japan tells the story of the earliest Japanese clients, the 1978 stores, the Omotesando building and three exhibitions.
  • Companion one. Japan in Paris is a chronology of Hanae Mori, Kenzo, Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo, Junya Watanabe and the designers who followed.
  • Companion two. Y-3 is the guide to Yohji Yamamoto's partnership with adidas.

A timeline of the house

  • 1821. Louis Vuitton is born on 4 August at Lavans-sur-Valouse in the Jura.
  • 1837. After leaving home as a boy of thirteen, he reaches Paris and is apprenticed to the trunk-maker and packer Monsieur Maréchal.
  • 1854. He opens his own trunk-making and packing workshop in Paris, the year from which the house dates itself.
  • 1888. The Damier canvas is created.
  • 1892. Louis dies on 27 February at Asnières-sur-Seine, aged seventy, and his son Georges takes over.
  • 1896. Georges launches and patents the Monogram canvas.
  • 1901 to 1932. The Steamer bag (1901), the Keepall (1930) and the Noé (1932) follow. The Speedy is dated to 1930 or 1932, depending on the account.
  • 1936. Georges dies and Gaston-Louis Vuitton takes control.
  • 1977 and 1978. Henry Racamier takes over the house, and the first stores in Japan open in Tokyo and Osaka.
  • 1987. The merger with Moët Hennessy forms LVMH.
  • 1997 and 1998. Marc Jacobs is named artistic director; the first prêt-à-porter line follows in March 1998.
  • 2001 to 2003. Stephen Sprouse's graffiti monogram (2001), the Jun Aoki building on Omotesando (2002) and Takashi Murakami's Multicolore (2003).
  • 2008. Richard Prince handbags and Murakami's Monogramouflage.
  • 2011 and 2012. Kim Jones joins the men's studio in early 2011, and the Yayoi Kusama collection arrives in 2012.
  • 2013 and 2014. Nicolas Ghesquière is announced on 4 November 2013 and shows his first line in March 2014; Celebrating Monogram follows in October.
  • 2017. Supreme, two Jeff Koons collections and, in May, the Cruise 2018 show at the Miho Museum.
  • 2018. Virgil Abloh is named in March and shows on 21 June; Jones leaves for Dior.
  • 2020. The LV² collection with NIGO is scheduled for 26 June.
  • 2021. The Tokyo exhibition Louis Vuitton & runs at Jing in Harajuku until 16 May, and Virgil Abloh dies on 28 November.
  • 2023. Pharrell Williams is announced on 14 February and shows in June on the Pont Neuf.
  • 2025. Visionary Journeys opens at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art in Osaka, and Rizzoli Electa publishes the book of the same name.
  • 2026. Ghesquière closes Paris Fashion Week with the Spring/Summer 2027 show in the Cour Carrée of the Louvre.

The creative directors at a glance

  • Marc Jacobs, 1997 to 2013. He introduced ready-to-wear and made the monogram a surface for living artists.
  • Kim Jones, 2011 to 2018. He led the men's studio from 2011 until he moved to Dior in 2018, a span that includes the Supreme pop-up of 2017.
  • Nicolas Ghesquière, 2013 to today. He has shaped the women's collections for nearly thirteen years and took the house to the Miho Museum in 2017.
  • Virgil Abloh, 2018 to 2021. His rainbow runway and the NIGO capsule brought street culture to the centre of the house.
  • Pharrell Williams, 2023 to today. He opened on the Pont Neuf with a leather Speedy and a choir.

The collaborators at a glance

  • Stephen Sprouse, 2001. Graffiti written over the monogram; see the Sprouse guide.
  • Takashi Murakami, 2002 onwards. The Multicolore, the panda and the cherry blossom; see the Murakami guide.
  • Richard Prince, 2008. Between twenty and twenty-five handbags previewed at the Guggenheim.
  • Yayoi Kusama, 2012 and 2023. Polka dots and pumpkins; see the Kusama guide.
  • Celebrating Monogram, 2014. Six creators, among them Rei Kawakubo, Karl Lagerfeld and Frank Gehry.
  • Supreme and Jeff Koons, 2017. A pop-up and the Masters collections.
  • Kansai Yamamoto, 2017. Kabuki-inspired icons for the Cruise 2018 show; see the Kansai Yamamoto guide.
  • NIGO, 2020. The LV² capsule with Virgil Abloh.

Where Japan enters the story

The Japanese thread runs through every period of the house. Accounts of its earliest Japanese clients reach back to the nineteenth century, Gaston-Louis Vuitton collected Japanese sword guards, and the first stores in Japan opened in 1978. From 2002 the thread becomes visible in the work itself: Murakami in the monogram, Kusama in the dots, Rei Kawakubo in 2014, Kansai Yamamoto in 2017 and NIGO in 2020. Chapter four, Louis Vuitton and Japan, sets out the record and marks where accounts differ.

A note on Hajime Sorayama

Readers often ask about Hajime Sorayama, whose chrome women and robots belong to the same Japanese pop lineage as Takashi Murakami. The collaboration we can verify is with Dior Men, not with Louis Vuitton. Kim Jones, who had left Louis Vuitton for Dior in 2018, saw Sorayama's exhibition at the Nanzuka gallery in Tokyo and visited his studio the same day to propose the project. It reached the runway in Tokyo as Dior Men's Pre-Fall 2019 collection, with silver Mylar robots around the stage and a laser show devised by the artist. We have found no Louis Vuitton collaboration with Sorayama, so this documentary does not claim one. His story is told in the Sorayama guide.

Reading the house by object

Every period above leaves objects that a collector can read. The canvases, from Damier to Epi, are explained in the canvases and leathers guide, the older pieces in the guides to vintage canvas bags and antique trunks, and the codes that date a piece in the guide to date codes, serials and microchips. The complete reference is The Louis Vuitton Atlas.

Why Japan

Louis Vuitton passes through Japanese hands with unusual care, which is why a Keepall, a Speedy or a limited collaboration can arrive from Tokyo or Osaka lightly worn and often with its box and dust bag. The wider argument is in Why Japan Is the World's Finest Market for Pre-owned Luxury, and the grading used here is explained in Japanese condition ranks.

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Index terms: louis vuitton history · louis vuitton creative directors · louis vuitton documentary · marc jacobs louis vuitton · nicolas ghesquière louis vuitton · virgil abloh louis vuitton · pharrell williams louis vuitton · kim jones louis vuitton · louis vuitton japan · louis vuitton murakami kusama · louis vuitton collaborations timeline · louis vuitton monogram damier history

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