With a legacy spanning over 170 years, Louis Vuitton’s handbags remain the most successful line of fashion accessories in history. This photographic tribute highlights City Bags from the last thirty years, which became immeasurably popular under designers Marc Jacobs, Nicolas Ghesquière, Kim Jones, Virgil Abloh, and Pharrell. This book promises to be a one-of-a-kind and sumptuous celebration of the design, visual impact, and enduring appeal of these objects of desire.

At the heart of Louis Vuitton are its City Bags, a range of women’s bags that date back to the turn of the twentieth century. Drawn from a heritage of travel, icons like the Steamer from 1901 have evolved into a dizzying array of handbags for every conceivable function demanded by the modern woman (and man). Profoundly influential, City Bags are now known to millions by their descriptive names (Keepall, Papillon, Alma, Locket, Noé, and Speedy) and are still evolving into more fantastical forms.

Hand in hand with a highly visible program of artistic patronage that in the last two decades saw the late Stephen Sprouse, Takashi Murakami, Yayoi Kusama, Richard Prince, Jeff Koons, and many others collaborate on the design of handbags, the pictures taken of these objects—by some of the most important fashion photographers working today—have become icons in their own right. 

With the handbags often front and center, the images featured here are collected from some of the most important fashion magazines and periodicals (and quite a few campaigns). Taken by industry giants such as Juergen Teller, Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, Steven Meisel, Kourtney Roy, Collier Schorr, and many others, this curated archive of images testifies to the unique, persuasive power of the photographic image and its continuing role in the storytelling (and mythmaking) of Louis Vuitton. Taking after Rizzoli’s very successful Louis Vuitton City Bags: A Natural History, the book also serves as an indispensable field guide to all the iconic bags of the brand.

About The Author

Patrick Remy is a Paris-based author and editor, who most recently edited Guy Bourdin for Charles Jourdan for Rizzoli. Ian Luna is based in New York, and is the author and coauthor of a number of books on Louis Vuitton, including Louis Vuitton City Bags: A Natural History with Florence Müller.