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The history of luggage dates back to ancient times, when people used cloth bags or woven baskets to carry their belongings. However, these bags were often bulky and impractical to carry over long distances.
Over the centuries, luggage evolved to become more functional and adapted to travellers' needs. In the Middle Ages, nobles used wooden chests to carry their belongings when travelling. These chests were often heavy and required several people to carry them.
With the advent of rail and sea travel in the 19th century, luggage underwent a new evolution. Wooden trunks became popular, offering better protection for fragile objects. These trunks were often adorned with leather or canvas and were used by wealthy travellers.
In the 20th century, the arrival of commercial aviation led to a further transformation of luggage. Rigid metal or plastic suitcases became common, offering greater shock resistance and storage capacity. Wheels were also added to make transport easier.
Today, luggage is available in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and materials. Many models are available from Les Malletiers....
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Louis Vuitton's Keepall travel bag, the 1930s... Cruises were fashionable, as were holidays in Deauville and Biarritz.
At that time, Louis Vuitton, renowned for its trunks, had to adapt to these new lifestyles. The result was the Keepall, a bag that "keeps everything". The Keepall is a flexible, zipped bag made from the famous monogrammed coated canvas. Its generous shape allows you to slip in a sports outfit and a few simple clothes for a weekend in the countryside.
An immediate success, the Keepall has never left the Louis Vuitton catalogue. It has been used in the trunk-maker's other collections, and given a new look by artists invited by Marc Jacobs, including Takashi Murakami and others.
Four sizes were chosen (45, 50, 55 and 60 cm), with the first three being the most popular because they could be carried in the cabin.
Seen over and over again on all the people for generations, the Keepall is now a timeless piece, which we keep, cherish and watch lovingly polish... Les Malletiers loves it too!
27 Jul 2023
Coco Untold Stories, the early years...
She symbolizes French elegance. Gabrielle Chanel, born in Saumur in 1883, whose real name was Gabrielle Chasnel, was raised in an orphanage. At the age of 12, she was taken in with two of her sisters at Aubazine Abbey in Corrèze.
Her mother died in Brive-la-Gaillarde in 1895. When she was just 12, her father abandoned her a few months later, to the care of the nuns. He never returned. Gabrielle went to Aubazine to learn sewing. She stayed for 6 years. The abbey would remain a powerful source of inspiration for the codes of the House of Chanel...
Coco Chanel's taste for clean lines and her predilection for black, white and beige are perhaps linked to the sobriety of the abbey and its occupants...
Once she left Aubazine, she moved to Moulin. Gabrielle had to earn a living, so she sang in small shows in bars, famous for her rendition of
“Who has seen Coco on the Trocadero? Coco, a nickname that has stuck for posterity...
10 Aug 2023
In 1910, Coco Chanel opened a hat boutique (Chanel Modes) at 21, rue Cambon, in Paris, with the help of her protector and friend Etienne Balsan and Arthur Capel (known as Boy), who had become her lover.
A new Gabrielle Chanel boutique opened in Deauville in 1913, first selling hats, then quickly clothing.
In 1914, with the outbreak of the First World War, Coco Chanel remained in the seaside resort of Deauville, which was very popular with wealthy Parisians.
That same year, Gabrielle Chanel spent a weekend in Biarritz, a place where business was done in wartime, with her lover Boy. A third boutique opened the following year in this city spared by the war.
When the war ended in 1918, Gabrielle Chanel repaid her lover's investment and became financially independent.
She opened another boutique at 31, rue Cambon in Paris.
In the 1920s, the world economy recovered from the war and Coco Chanel expanded her activities by opening workshops, offices and another boutique at number 31 and later offices at numbers 25, 27 and 23 rue Cambon. A sales outlet also opened in Cannes.
Chanel thus began her empire...
15 Aug 2023