LUXURY LEATHER GOODS

The oldest leather goods house in France, founded by Pierre-François Martin, a "trunk maker, packer, and crate maker," was born in 1792. François Goyard, an apprentice in the house, took over the brand after 1850... and gave it his name; the company would be one of the first to design and sell "what one takes with them on a journey": luggage. During the same period, Louis Vuitton invented the first flat, stackable trunk, adapted for travel by train and steamship. With the development of tourism, the suitcase—whose name, derived from the Italian valigia, dates back to the 16th century—established itself alongside chests, bags, and trunks as the quintessential piece of luggage. Formerly made of wood and then leather, canvas, cardboard, and aluminum, luxury luggage today incorporates avant-garde materials such as carbon fiber. In addition to luggage, the handbag is the ultimate attribute of a woman outside her home. It follows fashion and often precedes it when major brands call upon famous names from contemporary art, as was the case at Louis Vuitton where Jeff Koons, Satoshi Murakami, Cindy Sherman, Richard Prince, or Yayoi Kusama renewed the image of the classic brand: the "re-creations" of masterpieces by Da Vinci, Titian, Rubens, Fragonard, and Van Gogh by Jeff Koons, transposed onto iconic bags like the Speedy, the Keepall, and the Neverfull, and the multicolored monograms by the Japanese artist Murakami, have now entered the history of luggage. Other exceptional creations, more jewelry than handbag in truth, drive the market to new heights: the small 1001 Nights diamond purse by Mouawad, the most expensive in the world, reached a price of 3 million euros in 2017. This is also the case for the Ginza Tanaka platinum bag featuring over 2,182 diamonds, with its strap wearable as a necklace and its magnificent clasp diamond as a brooch... which reached one million five hundred and fifty thousand euros. Slightly less expensive but splendid, the Kelly Rose Gold Crocodile bag by Hermès was valued at one million five hundred thousand euros; it was designed in rose gold encrusted with 1,160 diamonds by the jeweler Pierre Hardy. The Birkin, Matte Himalayan Nilo Crocodile by Hermès, the classic Chanel Diamond Forever bag, and the Cleopatra clutch by Lana Marks are also among the dream bags that, like Haute Couture, set the tone and enchant collectors. It is evident that the expert's eye is required more than ever before any purchase or sale in a field highly subject to counterfeiting.