Discreet Chic

No initials, please

Pierre Cardin wallpaper. Gloria Vanderbilt sweatsuits. Calvin Klein denim diaper covers. The designer craze has made flauntable fashions more commonplace than chic. Now Louis Vuitton, the French maker of luxury luggage, has concluded that many self-respecting snobs may prefer more subtlety. This fall Vuitton will introduce a new line of trunks and suitcases that do not have its famous LV initials sprinkled across the covering fabric.

Vuitton's familiar trademark of crossed golden initials intermingled in a floral pattern dates back to 1896. Georges Vuitton, son of the firm's founder, created the design to make the bags difficult for counterfeiters to copy. Over the years, the distinctive canvas fabric became a favorite of the rich and renowned, including Charles Lindbergh, Rose Kennedy and Lauren Bacall. Marlene Dietrich once filled an entire limousine with 23 Vuitton cases.

For decades Vuitton produced only items priced beyond the means of the masses. Beginning in the 1960s, however, the company broadened its offerings to include less expensive backpacks, handbags, wallets, umbrellas, key cases and even dog leashes. All bore the distinctive LV symbol.

The Vuitton initials, however, are now so ubiquitous that some of the firm's traditional customers are grumbling. Said one impeccably dressed matron who stopped at Vuitton's Manhattan shop last week to ask about the plain bags: "I don't want my friends to think I'm adhering to the fad of having designer initials on everything." Vuitton will still make its standard initialed line for those who wish to be walking billboards. qed

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