Like any non-essential retail, the famous Louis Vuitton brand must adapt to the restrictions in force imposed by the health crisis. Thus, she chooses to present one of her activities, that of publisher of luxury books, by renewing the concept of the pop up initiated in 2019 by the artistic director Virgil Abloh.
In the setting of the St Germain-des-Prés boutique, the bright and airy space has been redesigned to offer a high-end ephemeral bookstore. The elegant shelves display the colorful collections of Louis Vuitton editions, which for more than twenty years have expanded their catalog by a hundred titles, including three collections designed for travel, City Guide (guides), Travel Book (notebooks designs) and Fashion Eye (photo albums).
A large selection of author’s books is also presented around the brand’s vector themes, such as the Art of living, fashion, photography, fine arts, architecture or design, while the luxurious editions of the brand. The artists, numbered and limited, produced with renowned artisans and printers, can be viewed on the folding tables evoking the spirit of the house. In the spirit of a private salon, the ephemeral bookstore has set up a comfortable corner to welcome its customers; it highlights a few key pieces from the Nomadic Objects of Louis Vuitton’s Art de vivre collection: the bright red Diamond sofa by Marcel Wanders, on the shelves the blown glass and leather lamp by Barber & Osgerby and the leather stool from the Atelier Oï and, as it should be, the famous designer leather trunks, which have become the icons of a French art de vivre.
Nothing is left to chance with the luxury giant which cultivates the literary values transmitted by the grandson of the founder, Gaston-Louis Vuitton. The latter, keen on literature and fine books, designed bookcase trunks or boxes for typewriters for his clients, and in 1914, he opened a reading and correspondence room on the avenue des Champs Élysées. Today the ephemeral Louis Vuitton bookstore confirms its anchoring in the cultural life of the Left Bank district and perpetuates the editorial fiber, the brand’s DNA, by organizing signatures and dedications from writers.
Anne Swynghedauw
Louis Vuitton Saint-Germain-des-Prés store
Open Monday to Saturday
10 am-6pm
6 Place Saint-Germain-des-Prés, 75006 Paris.
As part of its “luxury publisher” activity, Louis Vuitton is renewing the concept of the pop up store initiated in 2019 by artistic director Virgil Abloh in his store in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, for the time of an ephemeral bookstore.
