by Leonore Dicker
 
Ever since French Fashion house Louis Vuitton was first founded in 1854 (by Louis Vuitton himself), the world has been seeing the famous L and V letters everywhere. Envisioned by Georges Vuitton (Louis Vuitton’s son), they have marked bags, clothes, sunglasses and belts. They’ve stamped goods with their royal flair and have been admired with respect.


 

Now, over 100 years after the label’s creation, Nicolas Ghesquière ­–the brand’s current creative director– has decided to modernize the label’s monogram and celebrate the Capital “V”.  Gaston-Louis Vuitton, Louis’ grandson, was one of the first to appreciate this piercing letter and even made it his personal emblem by inking a painted blue, white and red patch with a black “V”.



 
The classic capital “V” used to come in either black, gold or beige and appeared to be in roman font. Together with its counterpart “L”, they took the world by storm – but remained intact since their beginnings. This only changed recently. In 2003, Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, in collaboration with Marc Jacobs (the house’s then creative director), gave the letters their first makeover. The two masterminded to give some life to the monogram and made it multi-colored while keeping the font as is.
 
The next change came with Nicolas Ghesquière. Lately, following Louis Vuitton’s big boom in emerging markets, reports have shown that consumers felt that the famous monogram had run its course, as it had become too visible. The house decided to consequently go in a different direction and reduce the visibility of its monogrammed trademark to revamp its image.
 



For its latest collection, Vuitton has made the “V” alone the star of the show and has even created an advert around it: “Volez, Voguez, Voyagez” (French for fly, sail and travel). The “V”, which comes in numerous shapes and colors, can be spotted on most items of the collection. The wandering vagabond metallically embellishes golden cuffs, adorns diamond bracelets and inks (in pink) classic bags – among other stunning items. It appears to have been elongated and has lost its roman touch, to sumptuously blend in in modern times.