Travel in Style, hopefully...

No this is not a post done with the vain hope of bagging some free travel luggage for my Hong Kong trip but I have tweeted about that. It is a late late late Louis Vuitton press day post. Back in early April or was it late March, I rocked up to Bond Street in sweltering heat wearing white jeans and a Marni top. Who knew that was the last of our summer hey! As I was entering I was greeted by the fabulous Elle team leaving resplendent in black, I fell back in love with black from that moment.

It was also at the press day when I realised I would never be VB, as I was the only person tucking into the macaroons. I had 2 to everyone else's zero, which made me think were they only there for display purposes and did I mess up the aesthetics of the press day?!

Also  I was also the only one taking notes in my trusted notebook but I need to write then and there to capture the moment. Although looking back at them they are slightly illegible.Overall I was transported back in time, the intention was to convey the art of travel but it was less jumbo jet and more steam train in essence. In truth the notion of travel still falls into 3 categories
1. Orient Express as epitomised by Agatha Christie
2. Pan Am and the sleek age of air travel in the 1960s
3. Out of Africa, the photographer come explorer come eccentric

The Louis Vuitton view of travel fell very much into the first category. Downtown Abbey was very much in my mind as packing was more about ones trunk or suitcase than a wheelie or backpack. The clothes and bag apparel fell very much between the 1854 beginnings of Vuitton and the 1930s launch of the iconic Alama bag with its Edwardian vibe.

The Alam bags are in the background of this photo as I was lusting after this very very expensive crocodile Never Full. The luxury oozed out of the bag and because I admired it so much I didn't experience envy for those who can afford it!! Although I always suffer a pang of LV trunk envy whenever I see one.

Marc Jacobs take on the late Edwardian era, pre Ballet Ruses's influence on fashion, was sedate in terms of colour but lavish with detail and as always with his nod to the 1970s especially in the shoe department, the collection was juxtaposed in its reference to a glorious past era of travel and the context of now. (I've always wanted to get juxtaposition in on a blog post so thank you MJ) 

Everything felt timely even though it was a past time, one never experienced and certainly never likely to. It is somewhat bonkers given our iPads and Twitter that our desire it to contextualise the rest of our possessions in an almost Enid Blyton time warp. The bike and basket, the bench, or a discreet notebook cover for you iPad to name a few items conveying pastiche as well as flowers and a travel journal.

The art of packing was captivating and inspiring if you are a capsule wardrobe junky like myself. I completely forgot to take a photo of the man demonstrating good packing as of course I was utterly absorbed. And in lieu of the trunk I'd settle for the suitcase!

Clever Mr Jacobs also introduced resin to Louis Vuitton which he used in his 1997 ready to wear collection and may be I will be able to stretch to one of these gorgeous resin bangles at a push.

It was a 20 minutes well spent and I leave you with teh rest of my images from the day as a flavour of the Louis Vuitton AW12 collection, which by now you will have admired due to the fantastic Steven Meisal ad campaign images.

It does seem slightly incongruous in the midst of our recession to be transported to another world of which you are probably not able to step into but I still love Enid Blyton's 'The Magic Faraway Tree' and I've never held it against her that it wasn't real for me.