But you can also see a magnificent mockup of the 1878 Palais du Trocadéro. Posters, maps and trunks are there to testify the influence of the World Fairs. Nevertheless, he displays – as we learn it – his own exhibition in a blue carousel reminding you of the Big Wheel. Therefore, he is outside the competition. During the great 1900 Fair, Georges Vuitton is in charge of the organization of the traveling objects and leather goods section. The next room deals with transport – with the miniature of a stagecoach and all the types of traveling trunks such as Tea Cases, the car trunk – and with World Fairs, which led to so many creations! Louis Vuitton attended them from 1867 and won many prizes there.
The mentions appear in these paragraphs describing a 2010 Carnavalet Museum retrospective on the evolution of the Vuitton style (emphasis added): Some of the posts, such as the Facebook message above (since deleted), included a link to the blog “Brand Memory,” which contains an article mentioning that Louis Vuitton showcased products at several world’s fairs and at the 1931 Paris Colonial Exposition, at which, the article says, “human zoos” were exhibited.īut the article doesn’t claim that the company (Louis Vuitton was long deceased by 1931) actually played any part in such zoos. They also failed to provide any real evidentiary support for the allegation.
The posts failed to make clear whether the allegation is meant to apply to Louis Vuitton, the man, or Louis Vuitton, the company, or both. Here is a picture of a Louis Vuitton /a28f6iUx1v While you’re now complaining about gucci and last year it was Prada and Moncler, did you know that in the late 1800s and in the early 1900s Louis Vuitton sponsored human zoos were black People were looked at as exotic circus like creatures. The memes allege that Louis Vuitton “sponsored” such exhibitions in major cities throughout the world: Though they were more often known at the time by the quasi-scientific name “ethnological exhibitions,” these displays came to be seen as emblematic of the racism and inhumanity underlying the colonialist mindset. By the time of his death in 1892, the Louis Vuitton brand was synonymous with luxury, a reputation built upon by his son and subsequent generations of the Vuitton family.Īccording to an assortment of memes making the social media rounds since early 2019, that brand was tainted by its alleged participation an 19th- and early 20th-century phenomenon known as “ human zoos.” These were zoo-like exhibitions of so-called “primitive” peoples displayed in world’s fairs and traveling shows in Europe and the United States during the era of global colonialism. Over time, he parlayed his artisanship into a successful business catering to upper-class Parisians, opening his first independent shop in 1854. French designer Louis Vuitton (1821-1892), whose initials are enshrined in the name of the multi-billion-dollar fashion conglomerate LVMH, began his career as an apprentice malletier (trunk maker) in Paris in the 1830s.