LEARN TO PACK WITH LOUIS VUITTON
Louis Vuitton teaches you to pack with an interactive website, paying homage to the original career of the fashion house’s founder.
When Kevin McCallister played by Macauley Culkin in the film Home Alone realises he doesn’t know how to pack a suitcase, his sister Linnie dubs him as “les incompétents”. If only he had the help of Louis Vuitton’s in-house created interactive website.
If you’ve always admired how garments are so neatly folded in high end stores then “The Art of Packing” divulges those folding techniques, so you will no longer be left puzzled when you take a new item of clothing out of its box and can’t get it back in again.
With their luggage range, including the Alzer trunk, Pégase suitcase and Keepall bag serving as the different vessel sizes, the site carefully guides you through the proper way to fold, stack and pack your items for minimal wrinkles and maximum space efficiency.
Although some might not be the average owner of Louis Vuitton’s iconic monogrammed travel range, The Art of Packing site is actually quite practical and useful – regardless of your brand preference.
For example, you are taught how to avoid creases in jacket sleeves by stuffing tissue paper in the right places, and utilising space by placing smaller folded garment inside.
It’s a novel way to present not only the French luxury brand’s luggage collection but also have users interact with a wide range of garments, shoes and accessories (digitally depicted of course). You can watch the process on the video, but if you have a little more time, the online experience allows you to interact with the items and follow the folding instructions step by step.
This digital project perfectly honours the original career of the luxury brand’s founder, who was taken on as apprentice to Monsieur Maréchal in the 1830s as a box maker and packer. GQ’s associate editor, Robert Johnston, explains in July’s UK issue that such packing dated back to the 16th century before the creation of Versailles, when the French court led a semi-nomadic existence between Paris, Fontainebleau and the Loire Valley, and would need to transport a great number of court possessions.
By the 19th century, packing had become sophisticated and a trunk would be made specifically for the objects it would contain. “The packer would use all his experience, especially as Vuitton started his career at the height of the craze for crinolines, whose enormous shape would be a mass of silk, satin, tulle and lace - and a nightmare to pack”.
Video: Louis Vuitton "The Art of Packing".
Image: Crinoline dresses featured in a fashion plate from Godey's Lady's Book, August 1859.
