Have a Nice Trip

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AS the world press celebrates Louis Vuitton8217;s 150th birthday, it inadvertently fetes India as well: The luxury luggage giant8217;s heritage collections can be traced back to Indian royalty, the first buyers of Vuitton8217;s custom-made suitcases.

Now the descendants of Indian maharajas are finding themselves in the pages of The New York Times and Japan Now. Four of Japan8217;s publications8212;Japan Figaro, Japan Now8217;s Pen, Bungshinju and Vogue Japan8212;are felicitating India through Louis Vuitton8217;s heritage. Louis Vuitton has its largest presence in Japan, with 45 stores in the small country. 8216;8216;It8217;s ironic that Japan, being one of the finest and most sophisticated markets in the world, is using India to enhance the image of their own number-one brand,8217;8217; says Tikka Shatrujit Singh, prince of Kapurthala and advisor to the Louis Vuitton fashion group.

8216;8216;Indian maharajas, from Kashmir, Jodhpur, Indore, Baroda and Kapurthala, have owned several large pieces of Louis Vuitton luggage since 1890,8217;8217; says Singh, whose great-grandfather Maharaja Jagatjit Singh was one of the first Indian customers of Louis Vuitton, with more than 60 large trunks for his European hats, suits and shoes. 8216;8216;It was a time when people had just begun to travel the world. And maharajas were the most elite in Indian society. They owned 30-40 trunks each, for their achkans, turbans, talwars and private medicines, and travelled with them,8217;8217; he adds. The trunks, if ordered now, would cost more than Rs 10 lakh per piece.

There8217;s also Yuvraj Vikramaditya Singh of Jammu and Kashmir, whose grandparents Maharaja Hari Singh and Maharani Taradevi were some of Louis Vuitton8217;s earliest and biggest clients. 8216;8216;Everything was custom-made for them8212;for the maharaja8217;s achkans, English overcoats, turbans, polo sticks, typewriters and music box, and the maharani8217;s saris and shoes,8217;8217; Singh reveals. The maharani8217;s shoe trunk is on display at the Louis Vuitton boutique at New Delhi8217;s Oberoi hotel. Jodhpur8217;s Maharaja Gaj Singh II has inherited several large pieces, especially a precious medicine chest, from his grandfather Maharaja Umaid Singh.

The New York Times and The Times will also soon have large features on Louis Vuitton and its Indian connection, Singh tells us.

A second store opens in Mumbai in September. 8216;8216;The group is interested that we do very well here,8217;8217; says Singh. 8216;8216;India is very important to us because of our history. Bollywood is important, young tycoons are important.8217;8217;