Louis Vuitton launch bespoke handbag service in London

Imagine designing your own handbag for Louis Vuitton? Well thanks to their new personal customisation service you practically can! The luxury brand will be launching their bespoke service in their Bond Street branch; handbag lovers can work directly with experts to create their own unique piece. You will be able to choose from over 80,000 variations from a selection of handbag styles, leather, colour and finish. The service launches on 30^th July, and the customisation sessions will take place at The Haute Maroquinerie – a dedicated private salon housed in Vuitton’s Bond Street Maison. 

Once the selections have been made, orders will then be sent to the brand’s workshop in Asnières, Paris, and will then be sent to the label’s workshops and will take between six months and a year to be made by the craftsmen. And that’s without the waiting lists!

The French design house already takes special orders for their luxury luggage. Patrick Louis – the great-great-grandson of the malletier’s founder – designs some of the company’s special orders. These include a creation made for Chanel’s main man Karl Lagerfeld, who had an unusual request for a piece of luggage which was designed to hold 40 iPods, and a private Chinese client who requested a piece which would allow him to watch television, watch DVDs, listen to the radio and offer coffee from it wherever he was in the world, including a remote desert. Not much to ask for then? 

Some of the designs that can be chosen from include The Lockit which was originally created in 1958, and is still a chic classic, The Milaris which is deceivingly roomy and the triangle that was originally created in 1934. We particularly love the sturdy Neo Steamer in tan or black. However, with each bag costing a pretty penny, and with all those variations to choose from, we might be tempted to get the credit cards out the freezer! Well, a girl can never have enough handbags, can she?

Siobhan Copland