When Louis Vuitton met Chanel

Their famous collaboration more than a century ago led to the creation of the high-fashion Louis Vuitton Alma and Speedy designer handbags, which remain the choice of rich and famous clientele today.

Despite the initial idea dating from the time of the Great War, luxury handbags have a timeless appeal, with the Speedy being named as the seventh most famous handbag in the world in September 2024.

Who is Louis Vuitton?

Louis Vuitton was born in Jura, France, in August 1821 to farmer Xavier and milliner Coronne Vuitton. After his mother and father passed away, he left home at 13 and travelled on foot across the country, taking casual work.

In 1837, aged 16, he arrived in Paris after a 292-mile journey and secured an apprenticeship with master trunk maker Romain Marechal. Trunk making was a specialist trade, with luggage being crafted from brass, wood and leather. Once accomplished, Vuitton had many customers from the French nobility including Eugenie, the Empress of France and wife of Napoleon III. After opening his own workshop in the fashionable quarter of Paris, Place Vendôme, he became famous for introducing the rectangular flat-lidded trunk in 1858.

In 1872, he created a new line of luggage with the famous beige monogrammed design and red stripe that has remained a feature of the Vuitton brand today. Following his death in 1892, the company was passed on to his son Georges, who turned it into one of France’s most successful brands.

Who is Coco Chanel?

Born in August 1883 to clothing vendor Albert and laundry woman Eugénie Jeanne Chanel, Coco was one of six children living in a one-room lodging in Brive-la-Gaillarde. After learning to sew as a child, she moved to Moulins at 18 to work as a seamstress. She began designing hats as a hobby, but became a licensed milliner in 1910 and opened a hat boutique called Chanel Modes at 21 Rue Cambon, Paris.

Coco shot to fame after French actress Gabrielle Dorziat was pictured wearing her hats in Les Modes Parisiennes fashion magazine.

From her boutique in Deauville, Coco began selling fashionable clothing in a prime town centre location and earned enough money to open a second store in Biarritz in 1915. Also selling perfumes and jewellery, the Chanel brand was synonymous with luxury and high fashion and continued to thrive.

Louis Vuitton and Coco Chanel

Although they had never met in person, Coco had always admired the luxury brand Vuitton created. In 1915, aged 32, she approached Georges Vuitton to ask if he would make her a bespoke handbag. At the time, Vuitton was famous for making luggage, but Coco’s request inspired Georges to lead the brand into creating smaller leather handbags.

Based on the Vuitton Steamer, an innovative travel bag was created in 1901, with separate compartments for clean and dirty clothing. The bespoke handbag led to one of the fashion world’s most famous meetings, marking the start of a lucrative collaboration between the Louis Vuitton and Coco Chanel brands.

By the 1930s, the design had evolved into the iconic Louis Vuitton Alma handbag, with Vuitton obtaining permission from Chanel to mass produce it for the luxury handbag market. This led Vuitton to include further high-quality accessories to its collection, including the Speedy handbag. Designed to meet the fast-paced lifestyle of the era, when people were travelling more, it was originally created as a travel bag, with the name reflecting its ability to adapt to the modern traveller’s needs.

The Speedy has been owned by some of the most iconic and glamorous women of the 20th and 21st centuries. Film star Audrey Hepburn and Louis Vuitton were linked in the 1960s when she was pictured frequently with her Speedy handbags, including a famous photograph departing from Heathrow Airport for Switzerland in November 1966, clasping the designer bag. She has been described as the “original Speedy bag influencer”.

It was Hepburn’s personal request for a smaller version of the iconic design that led to the Speedy 25. The petite actress contacted Louis Vuitton during the 1960s to ask if they could make a smaller version and the brand was happy to oblige. Vintage Speedy handbags are in great demand on the pre-owned market today.

The Alma and the Speedy 25 remain famous handbags that resulted from the earlier collaboration between Louis Vuitton and Chanel.

Audrey Hepburn and Coco Chanel

Audrey Hepburn was also famous for her association with Coco Chanel, which helped to create the brand’s reputation as being synonymous with elegance and sophistication. Chanel had invented the iconic “little black dress” in 1926 as a short, simple dress with a dropped waistline and cocktail neckline. At the time, it was considered radical, as black clothing was normally associated with mourning, but Chanel had turned it into a fashion item. Hepburn’s style influenced the fashion industry and elevated the little black dress into a timeless and elegant garment that became a sensation.

Coco Chanel is also credited with breaking down gender norms in fashion, as her designs borrowed elements of men’s fashions, including tweed fabrics and large pockets. She created androgynous silhouettes by erasing waistlines and bustlines.

She freed women from restrictive corsets by designing loose fitting, elegant garments, introducing wide leg pants and sailor shirts – she admitted to wearing men’s clothing herself to go horse riding because she found it more comfortable.

Both Louis Vuitton and Coco Chanel’s contributions to the world of fashion are immense: leaving lasting legacies in modern design, celebrities including Paris Hilton, Rihanna and Kim Kardashian have all been photographed with their Alma bags, while Kristen Stewart has been a Chanel ambassador since 2013 and Margot Robbie, the face of Coco Chanel Number 5, is well-known for wearing the brand for her red carpet appearances.