From Louis to Vuitton: an archive in fifty-four entries

A glossary lets the reader enter a history from several directions. From Louis to Vuitton, published by Assouline, used fifty-four entries to connect people, places, objects and ideas across the luggage house’s archive.

WAYFARER’s December 2025 account described journalist Arthur Dreyfuss’s collaboration with Pierre-Louis Vuitton, a descendant of the founder. The structure replaced a fixed chronology with a sequence that could be followed through curiosity.

Objects shaped by movement

Asnières and the Monogram supplied two points of entry. The story of flat-topped trunks connected the company’s work with changing maritime and railway travel, while smaller bags reflected other forms of movement.

The archive’s own preservation became part of the narrative. The source highlighted Gaston Vuitton’s role in documenting the business, showing how a later book depends on earlier decisions to keep drawings, objects and records.

Historical pieces appeared beside more recent designs such as Keepall and Horizon. The comparison made continuity visible through changing dimensions and uses, rather than implying that travel had remained the same.

This is an account of the publication, not an independent review of every historical claim in it. The book’s format is its most useful editorial decision: readers can encounter a familiar house through the particular object or place that interests them, then find the wider story from there.

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Adapted from the WAYFARER Brazil archive, first published 2025-12-05. English adaptation: 6 October 2026. This is an archival account, not a report of a new visit. Exhibitions, collections and menu details are described in their original context, not as current availability.