OK, my last post inspired me to write this one- so forgive me as I indulge myself…

So, in 1892 after the death of his father- George Vuitton decided to get serious about the counterfeit problem he was having with the copying of Louis Vuitton trunks.  He’d originally introduced Damier (in 1888 and unveiled at the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle) for this very purpose.

There are elements of the Louis Vuitton monogram- and quatrefoils (the almost shamrock looking four leaf fleur) in particular, in Gien tiles and elsewhere throughout the Louis Vuitton family home in Asnieres.

(Vuitton Family Residence in Asnieres)

But the quatrefoil pre-dates the late 1890’s.

When I was floating and roaming around Venice, I was literally freaking out at the prevelence of quatrefoils incorporated in the ancient architecture everywhere.  From the Doge’s Palace-

(Doge Palace, Venice)
to random street decorations and wrought iron fencing…

 … and literally everywhere in between.

I buy a Rick Steves’ guide for every trip that we take and I thought this was an interesting little snippet from his Venice book…

I thought it was funny that he says, “The pattern is found on buildings all over Venice, but no where else in the world (except Las Vegas).”  I mean, not true, obviously (I’ve seen this pattern all throughout Europe- from the Notre Dame to the mosaic floor of the Vatican)- but funny.

It’s fascinating that travel is such an important element of Louis Vuitton’s history.  Louis Vuitton will do almost anything, when it comes to custom design of trunks- as long as the function of the piece involves movement- getting something or someone from here to there.  So, it’s interesting to me that at its core- even the inspiration behind the design elements of the Louis Vuitton monogram is so apparent as you travel.

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(Benoit Louis Vuitton)

OK, stop staring. Yes, he’s a hottie. Let me introduce you to Benoit Louis Vuitton, the great-great-great Grandson of the Louis Vuitton.

(Left: Right: Photo by Jake Chessum NYTimes)

Apparently he’s not just a pretty face. (Although his is a great face isn’t it?- and he’s 6′2″ tall to boot!) Anyway, his father is Patrick Louis Vuitton (looks like they all get the middle name “Louis”), who is in charge of Louis Vuitton Special Orders Division. Benoit apparently spent the first seven years of his life “sheltered in Asnieres”- home of the first Louis Vuitton workshop.

After fighting the idea of working for the family business for years- he’s now in charge of the Special Order Watch division.

(Photo:  Style.com)

He’s And he’s single, ladies. (Sorry, my gay friends- it looks like this player in the fashion world is straight.) Here’s what he’s looking for in a woman (you can read the rest of the article in an old New York Times article):

”I want someone who is independent, smart and strong… But I love beautiful women, and I’m not going to lie to you and say that I want an ugly woman. I say this partly as a joke, but it’s also true: I know that I represent something and that my wife will have to represent something, so she will have to look good in Louis Vuitton.”

(Photo: Asia-Benefit.com)

“She will have to look good in Louis Vuitton.”  Well, I’m a happily married woman- but to all my single readers out there- that sounds like a challenge to me!

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As you well know- I love the history and meaning behind so much of what comes out of Louis Vuitton. This is what I find timeless about the brand in general.

I’d been wanting to write about the history about the striped Tanger- and in my search for images actually found another great blog entry on the same subject in the Excess Baggage blog by Deluxe Duck… be sure to check it out!

(The personal bag of Gaston-Louis Vuitton, 1901 from Pasol’s, Louis Vuitton)

(An early prototype of the Keepall- 1930, again with Gaston’s initial, from Pasol’s, Louis Vuitton)

The Louis Vutton striped Tanger Sac Plat borrows it’s central, geometric “V” initial from Gaston’s early monogram. It has the red center on the V on a white background. Mini Lin Tanger Sac Plat bags (Ebene and Camel) will borrow the blue center, with light blue- not white.

(from eBay seller anythingluxury’s vintage Louis Vuitton approx 1885 trunk)

The unique striped fabric that makes up the exterior of this particular Sac Plat is reminiscent of early trunk lining. (You’ll find similar striped linings in the Sac Trianon line- and including the Trianon Neverfull.

The striped Tanger Sac Plat is no longer available in stores. It was a S/S 2005 men’s bag- so they’re hard to get your hands on. Lucky for you, we happen to have one of these amazing limited edition pieces on eBay right now!

Check out our pre-owned authentic Louis Vuitton striped Tanger Sac Plat. Remember- if you win it and mention that you saw it on my blog- you get free shipping!

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Richard Prince is an interesting character. It’s really strange how much he lets us into his bizarre little world through his art- and now through his collaboration with Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton. What can I say, he creeps me out, I’ve said that before- but maybe I’ll go into that another time.

For now, I thought I’d blog a bit about some of the inspiration behind some of his pieces. In this post, I thought I’d blog about where he gets his names…

So here we have the Richard Prince for Louis Vuitton Heartbreak. That’s my sister above wearing it. It’s a nice big tote- and you can wear it that way or with the sides clipped together to form a more triangular shape. You can see more pictures on our LV Richard Prince Heartbreak here on our website.

People Magazine Style Watch this month (March) picked the Heartbreak as one of it’s “Star Picks”

Anyway… if you didn’t know that Richard Prince had a thing for Nurses before the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2008 fashion show- you do now!

So, RP has been “into” nurses for a while now. He collects several specific genres of paperback pulp fiction. Honestly, I will be the first to admit- I’m kind of a prude, but these books are all tacky at the best, but often sleazy (IMO). We’re talking Harlequins, Lesbian Pulp Fiction, and other “Adult” fiction. I will also freely admit that many of the covers have a very cool, enticing stylized effect.

Anyway… so one genre that Prince is into… is “naughty nurse” paperbacks. Yep, I did not know they existed. But, there are hundreds of them- maybe even thousands, and they started back in the ’50s. Richard Prince apparently has a pretty interesting collection of them. (This woman has a huge collection if you want to browse- again, the covers are really interesting!)

So, above left, we have Jane Converse’s 1968, nurse paperback fiction- “Heartbreak Nurse”. Above right, you’ll find Richard Prince’s 2002 “Heartbreak Nurse” in ink jet print and acrylic on canvas). But wait, Richard Prince’s Heartbreak Nurse doesn’t look a thing like Jane’s does… Take a look:

Above left, we have another one by Jane Converse. This one, the 1965 “classic”, “Nurse Forrester’s Secret”. Compare Nurse Forrester to RP’s Hearbreak Nurse…

So, basically… Prince takes real vintage book that retailed for about 25 cents, and literally copies it. He transfers the book covers, changes the colors, ditches the guy, switches a nurse from one book- and sticks her over there. He then throws on a surgical mask, maybe bleeds the lipstick through it and vuala… he sells it for $6.09 million!

Brilliant.

I’ll talk more about “appropriation art”- and a ton of more stuff that relates to Richard Prince and his collaboration with Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton in later posts. For now- if you’re into what he does and want to spend less than $6.09 mil to get some Richard Prince art of your own- take a look at our Richard Prince for Louis Vuitton Heartbreak bag! It’s a bargain in comparison!

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You’ve probably seen Louis Vuitton’s Trompe L’oeil line before (that’s Chloë Sevigny above wearing the LV Trompe Trocadero). But did you know where it got it’s name?

Some of you know that Ben (my bro-in-law and partner here) speaks fluent French. He lived in Paris for a couple of years, and this comes in really handy around the office! Apparently Trompe L’oeil in French means- a trick of the eye.

This is actually an age old technique where realistic imagery creates the optical illusion that a two dimensional piece of art or architecture contains 3D elements that do not really exist.

For example: We went skiing in Garmish, Germany and there were MANY houses that were quite plain- but they had elements painted on them that made the architecture look more interesting than it was:

(these were just square windows- no borders or treatments at all… but with trompe l’oeil)

Take a look at this fabulous example from Andrea Pozzo… a late 1600’s painter. Here is the ceiling that he painted for the Jesuit Church in Vienna:

(The illusory effect of Trompe L’oeil makes this only slightly coved ceiling appear totally domed!)

This technique is just brilliant and so fun to see! Louis Vuitton uses these elements in the Trompe line… they have details that make the bags look like they have features that are purely design.

Why not own your own bit of Trompe L’oeil art?

We here at FASHIONPHILE have a fabulous little authentic pre-owned Louis Vuitton Trompe L’oeil Pochette listed right now on eBay! It’s discontinued… and was a limited edition piece, so you can’t find it in the boutique anymore! Come take a look!

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