Taking a brand that’s fallen out of favor and making it cool again is among the hardest things to do in fashion, but if I’d trust anyone to pull it off, it’d be former Balenciaga frontman Nicolas Ghesquiere. Louis Vuitton apparently agreed with me when they hired Ghesquiere to fill the position vacated by Marc Jacobs after 16 years, and since his arrival in 2013, he’s quickly put his own stamp on the iconic line’s handbags.
Ghesquiere’s designs have been extremely popular among fashion people, and they’re arguably the root of the A-line miniskirt trend that’s at the forefront of the 70s revival currently happening in fashion. Louis Vuitton has also effectively recruited an army of fashionable celebrity supporters, most of whom are extremely talented in their own fields, beyond simply being good vessels for clothes and accessories. It may seem like a small distinction when aesthetics are the primary concern, but when it comes to marketing a brand as a lifestyle component, it’s extremely important.
Convincing fashion people and celebrities to get on board is crucial, but Louis Vuitton is a handbag brand before it’s anything else, and that means the brand’s most important critics are accessories consumers. The brand’s fashion and leather goods sales increased 18% in the first half of 2015, according to QZ, so it would appear that many consumers approve of the slew of new designs launched under Ghesquiere’s oversight, including the Twist Bag and the Petite Malle Clutch.
Many of you had critical things to say about Ghesquiere’s biggest bag launch yet, the City Steamer, but Vuitton is a brand that inspires such ardent love and hate alike that it’s difficult to use that as a bellwether for how the bag will actually do on the market. It strikes me as a strong addition to the LV lineup, but we’ll have to have to wait and see if it catches on. In my mind, though, Ghesquiere’s tenure at Vuitton is going about as well as the company’s executives could have hoped.
What about you, though? Is your interest in LV bags increasing, decreasing or staying the same as these new designs debut?
Decreased overall. I’ve been more interested in Dior, Hermes and Fendi as of late due to their more interesting designs that they have been pumping out lately. The Hermes Berline Sport is pretty high on my Christmas wishlist!
I prefer Chanel and Givenchy. Nothing LV is making me want to purchase. There are some pretty bags but nothing I have to have.
I still love LV, but the older I get, the less interested I am in carrying around a bag covered in logos. They have some other designs, but they are above my price point. Additionally, LV is not really practical, so many of their bags don’t have adequate organization for all day/everyday/city girl on the train use.
I’m just the opposite-if the bag doesn’t scream LV or Chanel, I don’t want it.
I went away from LV but I am learning to love some of the bags. I definitely see it as a plus that they offer matching crossbody straps for some of the shoulder bags. It’s a plus when I can carry a bag three ways. I have all the high end bags but I have definitely found a few LV bags that I’ll be adding to my collection.
Still not interested in anything but the SLGs. I kind of want an Alma BB, but I have yet to pull the trigger. After looking at LV’s latest offerings, I’m not that impressed. I really don’t like that City Steamer. Looks like Tory Burch.
Or Kate Spade
Or Prada
Or YSL Sac du Jour
The big fat LV is a huge turn-off. LV has a copy of Chanel with the quilted bag and Hermes with the steamer bag. Where are the iconic elements such as the lock push buttons? I hate the monograms, they are ugly. LV has come out with some attractive bags and material combinations, but the price point is over $8,000 and the bags can only be carried one-way. LV is neither practical nor attractive. I find Dior, Fendi, and Bottega Veneta more due to innovation. Even BV, while keeping to their weave aesthetic, have found a way to still be innovative, something both LV and Chanel lack. When brands start resting just on their laurels it is time for a change. I always walk out of LV and Chanel empty-handed. Even Chanel sometimes experiments, but LV has nothing compelling or innovative.
You do realize that the steamer bag is a modernization of their very old steamer travel bag right?
I found this comment most interesting part of article-thanks!
The new offerings definitely are some of the most eye catching but not captivating. I find that some of the designs and color combinations are trying too hard to appeal as fashion forward and innovating. I’m a lover of monograms as it invokes the warm fuzzies of the brand’s history and heritage- LV can definitely learn a thing or two from Gucci. These monograms are super iconic and with the almost strictly-entry-level-only momograms at LV and its poor incorporation into the new designs loses the brand’s allure. Gucci continues to smartly innovate and incorporate them into the new offerings and the market responded well. The classics get a refresh without being too fresh which brought consumers back to why Gucci is Gucci. LV is being too trendy right now and only time will tell if that increase in sales is temporary love.
No. Louis Vuitton under Ghesquiere is not inovatative nor Is it interesting. So as a frequent PB reader I beg that you stop shoving this new LV agenda down our throats. Please stop trying to make “fetch” happen.
FYI, LV considers sales only during the 2 first weeks! If it doesn’t work as high as their expectations, production decrease, bags stay 2 or 3 season and finished.
If you enter a store ans it is not there in the entrance staring at you,you know what’s going on!
Decreased as well. The bags I like best are now at a price point equivalent to Chanel, which I prefer, and the newer designs are still too derivative to tempt me.
I love the new things coming out by NG. A large amount of people on the LV forum miss MJ, but I really felt things were getting stale and tired near the end of his tenure. I bought my first brand new LV bag this year (always bought pre-loved before), an epi Alma from the new nacre (pearl) seasonal color line. I am very pleased with it. The color is gorgeous, and the epi leather is a lot (maybe 2x) thicker than my preloved Alma from the height of the MJ era. I absolutely love love love the Petite Malle and the Steamer, and hope to make one of them my next brand new LV purchase.
I love LV, but only the classics- speedy, neverfull, and all their SLG’s. Hermes is a bit too old lady looking for me. I do adore Chanel, but their prices are crazy and quality fallen. LV is lightweight, durable, handcrafted, and still affordable.
I tend to gravitate towards LV for their SLGs, and their speedy and neverfull are durable, they should return to their core which was to provide bags for travelling.
Nicholas Ghesquiere has turned Loius Vuitton into what I consider Claire’s output..the handbags look like they are for 10 year olds..the clothes are for pre-teens..and it now seems Gucci is following suit?..
Would you mind explaining your thoughts behind that? I actually think that some of the Marc/LV designs skewed very juvenile (multicolore, monogramouflage, graffiti, cerises, etc.) but I’ve loved nearly all of the NG bags.
I bought an LV petit noe in the late 90s, and have not thought about LV since. When talking about turnarounds, it’s helpful to look at what another brand in its fashion group, Dior, has accomplished. Perhaps LV can emulate their path.
My mom’s handbag evolution is testament to Dior’s transformation. She has a Dior monogram shoulder bag from the late 80s. By the time she bought a “Cannage” Lady Dior in the late 90s, the turnaround at Dior and new leather orientation was underway. Now, while my mom has a penchant for the exotics from Dior, it’s easy to see how far Dior has come from its early non-leather origins!
Decreased. Perhaps fashion people and press are enamoured but ordinary bag lovers will rarely buy theee bags, especially at those prices. I find myself looking at Gucci and Mulberry for more style longevity and reasonable prices.
I’m not a fashion expert but l have my own opinions. I used to love LV, most especially during Marc Jacob’s tenure. I quickly bought his seasonal, quirky pieces and it were these pieces that made me go back and buy the classics. After I got a graffiti neverful, I bought a classic monogram neverful. After I got the roses wallet, I got a multicolore “basic” Sarah wallet. I got a petit noe, I got a vernis mini alma.. I bought a lot of LV in that time!
When NG came in, I was eager to like his designs (especially since I’m a fan of Balenciaga). My first thoughts were, “Woah, these are out there..” But eager to try. The giant problem was from the get-go, all of NG’s designs for LV were so expensive! So much more than the years prior. I would go back to LV time and time and again, looking to see if there is “something I can afford”. I’m shocked that I have not picked up anything new in LV. The prices of the bags leave a bad taste in my mouth. I am nostalgic for the old price points. With NG at the helm, I feel like LV has suddenly become a bag I don’t want to spend for anymore. I have been buying Chanel, Givenchy, Balenciaga recently. No LV at all. Imagine, I got a Chanel GST and I got it cheaper than any of the bags I was eyeing at LV! Sigh. I miss the old LV that I knew…
I love the new designs, but the Twist bag is awful. The logo is very tacky.
The big, bulging closure on the Twist bag bothers me too–it feels like it’s trying too hard to make something clever happen. It’s one of relatively few criticisms I have (on a personal taste level) of what Nicolas has done at LV so far.
i had a good purchase from China in july,LV handbags from online store iluxshop.es
They are beautiful and good quality,but cheap price
I love the Matellage quilting on the Dora and Alma bags, but bags like the Steamer and the Twist look a little cheap in my opinion.
I’m one of the few people who likes the monogram as I feel it’s timeless, (only with a very deep patina; I only own an oooooold monogram Alma and mon-monogram Neverfull, though) but if everything LV did looked like the Sofia Coppola bag and the Dora, they would be unstoppable.
I read all the replies below with interest. There are still quite a few LV bags I like, mostly the SC bags and those in the Empreinte leather, but the new designs leave me cold. The brand is trying too hard to be edgy and it’s not working — they should really play to their strengths, of creating high quality bags that customers will still be happy to own and use for years. Also, the prices for these bags in the new designs are simply ridiculous. They are just not worth $4000 and up. In terms of design, many other brands have upped their games and are offering more attractive and more desirable bags at better price points. And previous posters made a very good point — that LV doesn’t offer the right kind of storage inside their bags — no zipped pockets for your wallet and phone pockets that are too small for the new, larger smartphones.
How to resurrect a brand? Make its offerings look like Chanel…
I think there has been some very lovely offerings. But I DISLIKE the twist logo. It looks cheap, deviates a great deal from the company’s original logo and gives me the impression that they’re manufacturing one shape and flipping it over as a means of cutting costs. And the new prices are too prohibitive.
The city steamer is a beautiful bag, I just think it’s overpriced.
I like the twist logo – I don’t like it as THE dominant feature on the bag. I have a Gucci Soho shoulder bag with the big “GG” but because its stitched into the leather it looks like a pattern. Not as aggressive as a giant metal LV.
LV designs are too aggressive for me.
Decreased! Those huge LV monograms are awful
I love Nicolas. I like the clothing. I enjoy many of the bags. The price point just makes it irrelevant for me. They’re just so far out of reach it’s hard to acknowledge them tbh.
I think LV is doing a great job now. Loud logos was never my thing: I own a pallas but I rarely use it. When MJ was in charge I didn’t care for this brand at all. Yes it was cheaper, but everything was cheaper back then. I also don’t understand when ppl claim they’d only pay over 4k for chanel not LV: Just bc the entry level monogram purses are affordable does’t mean the brand in general is inferior — it’s just a different strategy to get a broader market. LV is my fav (although dior is coming close) and I love how it’s coming out with more beautiful designs that carries the true spirit of the house without stamping the logos all over. And yes charging more $$ for non monogram leather make sense cuz you gotta separate the markets somehow. Chanel is differentiating itself from increase the price like crazy, it’s sick but it worked. I wouldn’t be surprised if LV is doing something similar. If LV keeps major line(s) above a certain price point, maybe its brand value will be perceived as higher in the near future.
I love LV, it was my gateway into luxury handbags 10 years ago. I think it’s refreshing to see the new bags NG is designing. But I haven’t been interested in buying any. There is a lot of red and a lot of bags look really “inspired” by other luxury brand bags. I did purchase a SLG from the totem line, because I loved the colorfulness of it. And I do agree with some of the comments on here, that the new NG bags even if monogram print are at least 2,000. So I think for that price range most buyers will go to other more popular brands at this time, like Givenchy, Céline, Fendi, Saint Laurent, etc. I know I have.
From the moment I heard MJ was leaving LV, I knew that it would be problematic for me. I loved his designs and bought a closet full of them. I bought what I loved so that means that I loved a lot! I was not a fan of canvas, but loved the SC, and higher end leather types. After his departure, I would go to LV and search & search. No luck. Things were too big, too little, too trendy, too busy, and way too expensive for what they were. I finally stopped going. I’ve since returned to Chanel. I’m a big fan of the Seasonal & Runway handbags mostly, but of course I have many Classics too. So to sum it up, after the new strategy, I don’t buy LV at all.
Expanding a little on my earlier comments, we spent an entire day exploring the designer shops in Milan’s “Golden Rectangle”, trying to decide which bags are at the top of my list (and my husband’s too, his old Burberry “man bag” is starting to look beat, so he needs a replacement). And after thoroughly checking out bags in Gucci, LV, D&G, Prada, Tod’s Fendi, Bottega Veneta, Jimmy Choo, Celine, Chanel, Dior, Valentino and more (with Negroni and Cosmo cocktail breaks along the way), I was somewhat surprised to find that the bags I liked best and would find most useful were from…Louis Vuitton.
My next purchase will definitely be the Montaigne GM in black Empreinte. It was gorgeous, beautifully constructed and makes a perfect high-style work bag. After that will be the brand new, “reinterpreted” Brea, which is just hitting the stores. It’s only available in Vernis at the moment, but I loved the Amarante version, especially as the new Brea is solid in that color and doesn’t have the light colored leather trim that came with the old Brea. It also has better interior pocket design (the price in Milan, FYI, was 1920 euros for the new Brea), then the Speedy 30 also in black Empreinte, and finally, a Totally MM or PM (not sure yet) in Azur. Topping the non-LV list is a medium Fendi Peekaboo in camel Selleria (3400 euros). I didn’t buy any of those (YET), but I couldn’t leave all those gorgeous shops without buying something, so I came home with this Jimmy Choo Sweetie in a color combo I hadn’t seen elsewhere… I needed a true evening bag and this fit the bill 🙂
I totally agree with the Emp Montaigne. I have several and also one in Ostrich. I still consider the Montaigne MJ though.
I love the direction LV is going in. I feel like it’s headed back to an era when there was less knowledge of the brand, and you had to be slightly in the know. The new leather pieces look amazing, and I’m liking that they are weeding out some of the monogram pieces. I think it’s all very new glamour, kind of a modern take on how 60’s chic (thinking of Jane Fonda or Brigitte Bardot)
Decreasing!!!! I’ve been purchasing LV handbags for years. This year I was gifted 4 LV’s by family memebers. Of the 4 only one was made in France (mini backpack). The others were made in Spain and 1 in USA (Mazarine). LV is a French designer and I expect to see “Made in France”. No more LV for me.