Founded in 1876, Lancel began as a producer of luxurious smoking instruments and gentlemen’s accessories, silverware, dinnerware and even timepieces. However, it was their leather goods and complementing travelware that would see the brand becomming a big hit with Parisian society. The firm slowly repositioned itself as a manufacturer of elegant bags, luggage and leather products. Their trunks and suitcases were very popular in the age of steamship travel and the early years of aviation travel, putting the firm on a similar footing to other great malletiers of the age. The brand was acquired by the luxury goods conglomerate, Richemont, before being sold to Piquadro who currently steward this illustrious marque.
Tag Archives: BAGS
CHANEL
Coco Chanel began to ply her trade as a milliner of note when she opened her hat boutique in Paris in 1910. She soon expanded to include ready-to-wear tailored coats and sporting pieces to ensure the fashionable ladies of Parisian society were appropriately attired for their various sporting and leisure pursuits. Her designs featured elegant yet defined silhouettes and luxurious but practical materials which quickly came to define her house style and remain iconic and distinct today. The Chanel house would continue to grow, offering all manner of luxury goods, leather goods, perfumes and, eventually, couture designs. The brand is widely regarded as one of the world’s pre-eminent high-end luxury fashion brands.
ALMINI
A boutique Milanese shoemaker and leather goods atelier that was established by Pietro Almini in 1921. The marque is renowned as a maker of high-quality, handmade footwear, bespoke to a customer’s exact specifications. Almini uses a wide range of hides and tans with a full suite of colourways. Their casual shoes are particularly sought after. The brand’s craftsmanship extends to various leather goods and accessories including bags, belts and travelling accoutrements.
RIMOWA
Rimowa, like so many of our most celebrated luxury brands, began life as a saddlery in the 19th Century, crafting high quality equestrian goods, accessories and leather goods for exacting customers in the age of horse-drawn travel. The company, founded in 1898 by Paul Morszeck and his business partner, Heinrich Görtz, traded as Görtz & Morszeck and quickly developed a reputation for excellence. Görtz left in 1900 and Morszeck would take the company a different direction, focussing on saddlebags, travel trunks and luggage, embracing the advent in aviation and steamship travel. When his son, Richard, joined the business in 1931, changing the businesses name to a play on his own, Rimowa would begin to craft the highest quality luggage, robust and indestructible and inspired by the flight cases used by pilots. This design brief would become the house’s signature and is still very much in demand today. The house was taken over by the luxury goods conglomerate, LVMH, in 2016.
MOYNAT
Moynat is one of the great Parisian malletiers alongside Goyard and Louis Vuitton, famous for it’s high-end luxury trunks and luggage and synonymous with the golden age of travel. Similar to their rivals, Moynat is easily identified by their distinctive patterns and colourways and the high-quality finish. The brand became a darling of European society, with many celebrated and royal patrons. The brand fell out of favour as air travel replaced ocean liners but the brand was revived by LVMH with Luvanis and reinstated as one of the world’s pre-eminent luxury brands, specialising in leather goods, bags & handbags, luggage and fragrances.
DELVAUX
This Belgian luxury goods marque is the oldest high-end leather goods maker in the world, tracing its foundation back to 1829 when Charles Delvaux opened his eponymous store in Brussels. With a reputation for excellence in their craftsmanship and an exquisite attention to detail, Delvaux became a preferred brand to much of Europe’s aristocratic and noble classes, eventually earning a warrant as purveyors to the Royal Court of Belgium in 1883. The brand was particularly known for their luggage and steam trunks in the golden age of travel but has successfully reinvented themselves in the modern age as a fabricator of must-have handbags and other leather accessories. The house continues upon that tradition today as a label in the Richemont luxury goods stable.
MAX MARA
Few items of apparel are as iconic as Max Mara’s camel coat, a cashmere wrap coat that is, arguably, one of the most in-demand pieces of womenswear ever produced. It has been the mainstay of the Max Mara house, founded in 1951 as a Ready-to-Wear high fashion designer. Initially focussed on the Italian marker, the Reggio Emilia outfitters offer a full range of fashions, accessories, fragrances and jewellery to an international customer base. The label has also ventured into couture and has an acclaimed bridalwear range.
ZILLI: A LEATHER JACKET EMPIRE IS BORN
The Zilli story begins in 1965 with the foundation of the iconic brand which, today, is synonymous with luxurious apparel and stylish, tailored pieces, especially leather apparel. It was then that a collaboration would begin which would shape the direction of the Maison Zilli line – a collaboration between a French entrepreneur and an established Italian tailor with a reputation for sleek and elegant designs for discerning customers.
AKRIS
Akris is a premium luxury womenswear brand that has been catering to high fashion clientele since 1922. The company, began life as a textiles and apron manufacturing concern under the helm of founder Alice Kriemler-Schoch, before slowly evolving into the haute couture powerhouse that it is recognised as today. The brand remains under the ownershipContinue reading “AKRIS”
FITZGABRIELS 