Week 3 EOC: Exercise Chapter 3

Most designers and merchandisers that have an established name have been working for a while in the retailing, manufacturing, or design industry.  Identify someone who you feel reflects the type of fashion brand you would develop and write a 750 word essay on his or her career.  How has each of that person’s experiences helped them develop a successful brand?  What do you think the future of their brand will be?

Out of a multitude of designers I could possibly identify myself with Louis Vuitton is the first one who comes to mind.  The Louis Vuitton fashion house creates pieces with clean lines and beautiful shapes.  A specific line that comes to mind is the 2010 fall collection.  With 1960’s inspired pieces, Louis Vuitton proves that vintage definitely fits well in their repertoire.

So, where did Louis Vuitton get his start?  At the tender age of 10, Vuitton’s mother died and his father soon remarried.  Vuitton’s new step mother was as evil as the step mother in Cinderella.  “A stubborn and headstrong child, antagonized by his stepmother and bored by the provincial life in Anchay, Vuitton resolved to run away for the bustling capitol of Paris.”  http://www.biography.com/people/louis-vuitton-17112264  When he was only 13, Vuitton started on foot to Paris.  He traveled for over 2 years and fed himself along the way by taking jobs here and there.  The trek was 292 miles and he arrived in 1837 at the age of 16.  Louis Vuitton was, at even a young age, an amazing person, in this writer’s opinion.

In 1852 when Napoleon became the Emperor of the French , his wife hired Louis Vuitton as her personal box-maker and packer.  “This provided a gateway for Vuitton to a class of elite and royal clientele who would seek his services for the duration of his life and far beyond, as the Louis Vuitton brand would grow into the world-renowned luxury leather and lifestyle brand it is today.”  http://www.biography.com/people/louis-vuitton-17112264

1854 was an important year in Vuitton’s life.  He married a 17 year old beauty that year.  He also left the shop he was working at and opened his own box-making and packing shop in Paris.  The sign outside his shop read, “Securely packs the most fragile objects.  Specializing in packing fashions.”

“In 1858, four years after opening his own shop, Vuitton debuted an entirely new trunk.  Instead of leather, it was made of gray canvas that was lighter, more durable, and more impervious to water and odors.”  http://www.biography.com/people/louis-vuitton-17112264?page=2  Unlike any other trunk, however, his trunks were rectangular as opposed to the common dome shaped trunk.  Vuitton’s trunks were stackable which was highly convenient and extremely innovative and creative on his part.  You could say that this was the birth of modern luggage.

While Louis Vuitton was alive, it is evident that he made his name in his luggage brand.  So why are there fashions out there today with his name on them?

“[Louis Vuitton’s] son Gaston-Louis Vuitton took over the company in 1936, furthering the business into an international brand.”  http://nymag.com/fashion/fashionshows/designers/bios/louisvuitton/  Purses and wallets were a new addition to the company and by 1959, it was expanded into what is the well known brand of women’s purses.  In the 1970s, the brand was expanded into Asia.  In 1987 the brand merged with Moët et Chandon and Hennessy.  Ten years after that, only 15 years ago, ready-to-wear fashion was incorporated in the luxury luggage brand.  Hired for the job was, “New York designer Marc Jacobs…who immediately added an incredibly lucrative clothing business.”  http://nymag.com/fashion/fashionshows/designers/bios/louisvuitton/

Marc Jacobs created an image for the Louis Vuitton woman.  The classic luggage made by Mr. Vuitton himself were inspiration for his own son’s expansion to purses and wallets which then inspired Mr. Jacobs to created wearable fashions for the Vuitton woman in today’s world.  Without the road paved by Louis Vuitton, the world would not know of these fashions.  His brand is iconic and will live on forever.  Now, with ready-to-wear clothes, his brand can evolve and keep the interest of the ever changing, fast paced world known as fashion.