A history of style

A sesquicentennial volume on Louis Vuitton's empire of luxury spans the globe.

Books on brands often feel like visiting chapters of lifestyle and cultural history, largely ignored by both historians as well as sociologists. The result is that the little we can cull, by way of histories related to luxuries and lifestyles, remain in the the domain of luxury brands.

The latest such launch, celebrating 150 years of its existence, is Louis Vuitton, The Birth of Modern Luxury.

A splendid celebration of a century-and-a-half over which much of the world has changed, here is a book that traverses the journey from the launch of the brand in 1854 when Louis Vuiton designed a revolutionary trunk, through its elegant journey with stars, writers, painters, politicians and other famous people as they made their way across a world that was still unexplored, unknown.

Maharajas and other monarchs, heads of state, diplomats and plenipotentaries, Louis Vuitton makes room for them all over 540 glossy pages rich with anecdote and nostalgia, with early drawings, marvellous sketches, imaginative photography - dedicating chunks to the transition from just luxury baggage to other uses of leather, chiefly footwear, then fashion, even architecture (by way of its showstopping retail spaces - the largest of which opened a few months ago at Champs Elysees in Paris).

Louis Vuitton's entry into India may have been as recent as 2003 in Delhi and 2004 in Mumbai (Bangalore comes online in 2006, by when it may have been renamed Bengaluru) but it catered to the country's royals and elite, personalising cases for everything from chotha hazri to trunks for polo gear.

Now, though, it seems socialites and filmstars are making up its Indian portfolio, or else why would Queenie Dhody and Shilpa Shetty be among those who made it for the Paris opening earlier this year?