Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton opened his trunk-making workshop in Paris in 1854, and the flat-topped trunks he built to stack in train cars and ship holds set up everything the house still sells. His son Georges designed the Monogram canvas in 1896, with the LV initials and flower motifs, partly to stop the copying that had dogged the earlier Damier check. That monogram is the thread through our coverage. In 1980s Harlem, Dapper Dan screen printed it, along with Gucci and Fendi logos, onto bomber jackets and full suits for clients the houses never courted. In January 2017 a Supreme collaboration appeared on the Louis Vuitton runway in Paris, and luxury openly shared a box logo with a skate shop. Virgil Abloh became artistic director of menswear in March 2018, the first person of African descent to lead the line, and showed in the gardens of the Palais-Royal that June. After his death in 2021, the house named Pharrell Williams men's creative director in February 2023. His debut on the Pont Neuf brought the Damoflage print, and later shows moved to the Jardin d'Acclimatation, the Centre Pompidou and the Fondation Louis Vuitton. The Monogram turned 130 in 2026, and by the surf show that June it was stamped on diving gear.