As much as a fashion figure, Grace Coddington is also known as a cat lover. Her affection for her pets has become part of her signature and while codesigning Louis Vuitton‘s newest travel collection, the Welsh-born creative director was naturally inspired by her loyal felines: Blondie, Blanket and Jimi.
“I wish I could take them everywhere with me, but they hate traveling,” Coddington told WWD. “As soon as they see their box, because they’re going to the vet or something, they all kind of freak out and hide. And then if you do get them in a car, they scream all the time.”
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Through the Louis Vuitton Travels With Grace Coddington collection, which officially debuted Friday, the former editor made her wish of exploring the world with her pets possible, at least symbolically. Patches featuring her cats on adventures through Sydney, London, the Amazon, the Great Wall of China and even in space are showcased on an exclusive line of luggage, starring Coddington’s version of the classic Stokowski trunk. The motifs are also seen on a travel wardrobe, which includes silk pajamas, T-shirts, hoodies, comfort blankets, sandals, tennis shoes and a diverse range of accessories.
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Coddington, a longtime friend of Louis Vuitton‘s creative director Nicolas Ghesquière, first collaborated with him in 2019 when she created the Catogram capsule. This time around, her goal was to create a collection that made traveling less demanding.
“With the whole security thing and everything, I find that traveling these days is very stressful. Before, it used to be super exciting, and now I find it stressful, so I want to do everything to help the traveler relieve their stress,” she said. “I hope they get as relaxed as I am.”
The secret to an easier trip, according to her, is packing efficiently. “It has a very sort of simple theory behind it, which is basically, keep everything very light, uniform and simple,” she said. “I think if you can just pack everything in one little bag, keep it with you, that means it’s a lot less stressful for you on that journey.”
Throughout her career, Coddington had the opportunity to visit different continents, going everywhere from Brazil to Japan to the South of France and beyond. “Trips were much longer in those days,” she said. “Today, if you travel, which nobody has the budget to travel anymore, you go to Africa for the day.”
Nowadays, Coddington spends most of her time in The Hamptons, where her cats have a “big garden” to enjoy and she can unwind in one of the pieces she cocreated for Louis Vuitton. “I love the little dresses that I’ve done. I wear them all the time. They’re just very easy, very comfortable, and they’re sort of reminiscent of the 1930s and 1940s, which is a period that I like a lot,” she said, referring to the shirt dresses included in the collection.
Louis Vuitton Travels With Grace Coddington is now available at louisvuitton.com.