I'm joining Chari for her Sunday favorites.
This was a post from Feb 8th 2009.
My love for Louis Vuitton hasn't lessened one bit! But my buying of cases has certainly slowed down *winks* I hope you enjoy this encore.
Louis XV... Louis XVI... and of course Louis V!!... As in Vuitton of course!
As a lover of all things french and antique *winks* Louis Vuitton is a perfect fit for me!
Louis Vuitton was a hardworking thrifty young man from Anchay (a hamlet in the Jura, a region of mountains and forests) He left his home and job at his family's mill at the early age of 13.
In 1854 he opened his own trunk making business at 4 Rue Neuve-des-capucines near the Place Vendome. Louis claim to fame was in the creation of the flat topped trunk which made them easy to stack. Up until then, trunks had been dome topped and extremely heavy. Louis created his trunks using poplar (a much lighter wood) and enforced them with metal banding. Making them far superior in strength, and a much more luxurious way to travel.
He was a hit pretty much from the beginning. The empress Eugenie was his first royal customer and put him nicely on the map. Other wealthy people of the day followed suit and the rest as they say is history!
I have been a lover and collector of Vuitton for over 20 years. I must admit this is the least "affordable" of my collections, requiring lots of searching for items that I COULD afford. Nearly all of my LV was purchased on the secondary market, helping my pocketbook greatly! And lots of trading with friends helped a lot as well. And lucky me, my DH is nearly as vuitton crazy as I am! *winks* So he understands that sometimes in order to afford a new (old) piece, we might have to eat peanut butter and jelly sammies for a month... or ten lol!
The older trunks and traveling cases are really my passion! I can only dream of all the fabulous places they must have visited! And they work wonderfully *IMHO* as home decor... another real passion!
Here is a picture of the Eiffel tower recreated using Louis Vuitton trunks and cases.
I always dreamed of having enough pieces to do one of my own *winks*
This is my attempt so far. Maybe in another 20 years I'll have enough to finish it off!
I found this cool article in Traditional Home magazine featuring a designer in Arizona who has quite an extensive collection of LV and has used it beautifully in the decor of his amazing condo. Do you see the stack of suitcases tucked under his sofa table? Well I loved the look of this so much, I tried it in my own home. I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures. I don't have a scanner so they are just pictures of pictures *sighs*
Here's my interpretation found in my master bedroom. I hide all the wonderful cards and sweet little notes from my hubby in them *winks*
Back to the designers residence in Arizona. Here in his family room is a dream piece of mine. It's a LV suitcase that belonged to John F Kennedy. He's re purposed it as a coffee table. I'd be afraid to ever put anything on it!! But he seems to have no qualms whatsoever placing heavy objects on top. Which I must say, do look great! I love the pop of orange in his pillows also!
And here is a shot of part of his closet. Oh boy! If only my closet looked like this!! And all those orange hermes boxes add another wonderful pop of color!... *sigh* I can dream...
This room belongs to Tommy Hilfigger. Can you spot the louis ? He has some hermes going on here as well. See the cute little suitcase under Uncle Sam?
I used a beauty case on top of a buffet cabinet in my bedroom. Maybe not the best place for it but it'll do for now. Can you see it? Lol!
Here it is!
And here I've used some LV in hubby's office. The desk set was part of an exclusive from Neiman Marcus in the 80's. It's extremely rare, and finding as many pieces as I have has been a real adventure. Do you see the small waste basket at the end of my hubby's desk?
This one here! It's my "claim to fame" as they say in vuitton circles. This paper waste basket is the only one I or many of my fellow LV collectors have ever seen. Because of it's rarity I needed to take it to Louis Vuitton to have it authenticated. I tell ya it was the closest thing to a celebrity I've ever been! All the sales associates walked quickly away from their customers to converge on my waste basket!! I felt so sorry for everyone! Now I'm tellin ' ya LV sales associates can be notoriously snooty... and to have them gush all over a darn waste can??!! I'd a never thunk!! The manager even asked me if he could take some pictures of it!
Here is a shot to make any LV lovers heart go pitter pat! All those fabulous old trunks!! All the history!! All the MONEY!! YIKES!!! Do you see the trophy cups used for display in the center?
Well some of you might remember my "Craigslist do you love it?" post here where I found some old equestrian trophy/loving/cups? A few days ago I saw them listed again on craigslist, 5 for $50 and this time I jumped on them! Two of them are sterling! Here I was playing around in hubbys man cave *winks* and I created a tiny vignette (very tiny lol !) of the shot above. What do y'all think?
And if you are a serious lover of Vuitton you MUST have this book! Louis Vuitton The Birth Of Modern Luxury by Paul-Gerard Pasols It is the best ever! It tells the entire history of LV as well as showing incredible shots of extremely rare custom pieces...
Like this one! A custom traveling case in crocodile outfitted for all your perfumes colognes and beautifying essentials! *winks* I'll bet this one cost about half the price of an average house! But it certainly is wonderful!
And of course I love their handbags also!*winks* Here are most of mine displayed in one of my french armoires.
Well I hope you enjoyed my little tour de Vuitton. While they can be quite expensive, it's still possible to find them at antique stores, auctions and estate sales for fairly reasonable... and if you're really lucky, VERY reasonable prices, like the large trunk that I have featured in my Eiffel tower shot? Well my hubby (eagle eyed man that I love!) spotted it at a garage sale marked $60!! He asked if they could do a little better? And we took it home for $50!! I really had no idea what it was worth, and when I took a peek on ebay to see what it might possibly be worth? I nearly peed myself!!... Sorry to be crude... But I DID!! So if you're out there garage saleing keep your eyes and ears open... ya just never know!! *winks* Vanna
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you'll also stop by Chari's place and check out all the other Sunday Favorites.
