Louis Vuitton opening a new hotel in Paris
Louis Vuitton is one of the most prestigious brands in luxury today. The brand's rich historical roots run all the way back to the 1800’s, making it one of the oldest brands to date. In 1873 16-year-old Louis Vuitton arrived in Paris where he started apprenticing for Monsieur Maréchal, which was the start of greatness for Louis Vuitton.
The luxury house would have changed their signature print, to the initials LV in remembrance of Mr. Louis Vuitton under direction of Georges Vuitton, son of Louis Vuitton. The LV monogram was introduced and patterned with LVs, quatrefoils, and flowers. The rebranding of Louis Vuitton was a great success which became an iconic print that rose to fame amongst elite clientele. With this rise in prominence, the brand caught the eye of one of the most established fashion icons in the world, Gabrielle Chanel.
By the 1900s Louis Vuitton started to incorporate leather into their products which revamped their signature monogram canvas, which will later be used across multiple styles, including the cylindrical Papillon.
Courtesy of Ted West
Under the management of Henry Racamier, he expanded the footprint of the brand and pushed for the opening of different retail locations around the world urging financial director at the time, Joseph Lafont, to become publicly traded in 1984. When Louis Vuitton premiered as a luxury goods company, it stood to reason that they would align themselves with leading manufactures such as champagne and cognac, Moet et Chandon and Hennessy, which created the LVMH conglomerate in 1987. This was one of the company’s biggest successes and most significant events in history for the fashion house. In 1996 the brand celebrated the 100th year anniversary of its Damier print by releasing a limited-edition version with Vachetta leather, not something that is typically seen which was labeled the Centenaire Collection.
The year 1997 was a pivotal one for the fashion brand, with Marc Jacobs as the first creative director. Jacobs designed the brands first ready to wear line that made an introduction to the historical Monogram Vernis range of handbags. In 2001, Stephen Spouse alongside Marc Jacobs designed a collection of neon graffiti written over the classic monogram canvas. In 2013 Louis Vuitton worked with Takashi Murakami to create our all time favorite, the Multicolor Monogram. The standard monogram print consists of 33 colors on either black or white background. Murakami is also known for the creation of the very famous and all time favorite smiling cherry blossom print on the classic monogram.
Courtesy of Louis Vuitton
By 2013, Marc Jacobs stepped down as creative director for the fashion house, designer Nicolas Ghesquière was appointed as the new Artistic Director for Women’s Fashion and began to not only foster the current product line but also expand it. In 2018, Virgil Abloh was appointed the men’s creative director and has since designed not only stunning new accessories for men, but has introduced pieces that capture the hearts of men and women alike, a rarity for the brand since its inception.
With the successes of the brand, fast forward today Louis Vuitton has decided to venture into a whole new market going back to its roots, the fashion brand has decided to open a hotel in the heart of Paris. Being known for crafting luxurious goods with impeccable design, the brand has slowly started extending its storied brand from physical products to physical spaces. With no surprise to the launch of a hotel, the fashion house announced plans for LV Dream, one year pop-up experiential space. This exhibition highlights various collaborations with artists, a cafe, a gift shop, and a chocolate shop. Before this, the brand had already ventured into physical spaces around the world with pop-up restaurants in Seoul, South Korea, and Saint-Tropez, France.
The hotel is expected to be up and running within the next five years. Louis Vuitton corporate offices are located in the city’s 8th arrondissement, which will eventually become the location for the hotel. Louis Vuitton chairman and chief executive officer says his office has one of the best views in Paris, which will soon be available to the public to enjoy.
Though full plans have yet to be released, including the designers of the anticipated hotel, Louis Vuitton is no stranger to working with high-profile architects and designers. Frank Gehry designed the company’s Seoul flagship in 2020, Peter Marino reimagined the legendary Louis Vuitton trunk as part of the company’s “200 trunks 200 Visionaries” exhibition, as well as various designers who have collaborated with the fashion house as part of its “Objets Nomades”, the company’s furniture collection.
Louis Vuitton will be making history as one of the only luxury fashion houses to own a hotel in the world, which we all can not wait to see!