Gli archivi delle maison

“LOUIS VUITTON PATRIMONY COLLECTION, ASNIERES (above): Located just north of Paris, the site where Louis Vuitton set up his workshop in 1859 now holds the LV Patrimony Collection and a private museum. It is also where special-order items are produced. Started at the end of the 19th century by Gaston-Louis Vuitton, the collection now contains around 9,000 pieces, each wrapped in white polythene fibre to preserve it. Some 150 new items are added each year.” “FENDI ARCHIVE, ROME: Dating back to the 1960s, the archive holds all Karl Lagerfeld’s signed original designs, as well as pieces made specially for films directed by the likes of Fellini, Zeferelli and Visconti. Thousands of furs and leathers are stored in temperature-controlled environments. Creative ‘boards’ show the extent of the extraordinary skills of Fendi’s master furriers.” GIORGIO ARMANI ARCHIVE, MILAN: Armani began archiving his work in 1985, ten years after he opened his business. In 2000, a selection of items were exhibited at the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum in New York; the exhibition later travelled to Berlin, London, Rome, Tokyo and Shanghai, before returning to Milan.” “HERMES ARCHIVE, PANTIN: North-east of Paris, Hermes’ conservatoire, or archive, holds a collection of ready-to-wear pieces, leather, jewellery and equestrian products dating back to 1852. It is continually updated from sources including auctions, flea markets and private donations. Hermes’ ‘Fort Knox’ is the leather store, on the same site, where more than 600,000 skins – from a dozen animal species in a palette of over 400 shades – are kept in as carefully controlled an environment as that used to store great wines. Each skin has an ID card to indicate origin, tanner and treatment.” VALENTINO’S ATELIER, ROME: The archive also includes all Valentino’s sketches (shown) source: Wallpaper magazine