Tribute to the life and legacy of a visionary spirit

Louis 200: Louis Vuitton’s Bicentennial Birthday, will be celebrated across various media, featuring collaborators from all walks of life. — Photos: Louis Vuitton — Photos: Louis Vuitton

Behind the House, there has always been the man, Louis Vuitton, born on August 4, 1821, and on the 200th anniversary of his birth, the visionary will be celebrated globally with a series of creative initiatives.

Over the next few months, Louis 200: Louis Vuitton’s Bicentennial Birthday, will evoke his life and legacy – adventurer, entrepreneur, designer, innovator – across various media and featuring collaborators from around the world.

There will be a video game with embedded NFTs (Non-fungible tokens); store windows that showcase the iconic trunk as a vessel reimagined by 200 exceptional contributors; a large-scale triptych of Vuitton painted by Alex Katz; a fictionalised novel by French writer Caroline Bongrand, as well as Looking for Louis, an unprecedented documentary that retraces the story of the young pioneer.

Artist Alex Katz’s portrait of a young Louis Vuitton.

Available on streaming platforms, the documentary will highlight Vuitton’s journey, from his humble beginnings to his enduring legacy.

He left his hometown of Anchay, in the French Jura region, at the age of 13 and arrived in Paris two years later, having travelled by foot.

Following an apprenticeship with the renowned trunk maker and packer, Romain Maréchal, Louis founded his own Maison in 1854 at 4 rue Neuve-des-Capucines near Paris’ Place Vendôme.

Between his close rapport with couturier Charles Frederick Worth and being appointed the trunk maker and packer to Empress Eugénie, his renown increased, as did his intuition that luggage would assume greater importance with a revolution in transport underway.

He developed a waterproof coated canvas and radically transformed the functionality of trunks, giving them flat lids.

Presented without any corresponding product launches, the highlights of the Louis 200 celebration are pure expressions of creativity, illumination, and generation. Instead of a typical exhibition, these alternate, entertaining formats invite fans and fashion enthusiasts to explore the Maison’s history in a contemporary context.

Apart from the game, novel and documentary, another highlight is 200 Louis, a range of celebratory windows unveiled across the entire store network – reflecting how 200 talents across backgrounds and disciplines have individually interpreted the designer.

Of Louis 200, Louis Vuitton’s chairman and CEO Michael Burke says, “Owing to the pioneering spirit of Louis, innovation defines the history of Louis Vuitton and perpetually advances us into the future. Through the disruptive and dynamic initiatives of Louis 200, we can appreciate how Louis is a figure of his time – and of ours.” — Nasa Maria Entaban