Picture this: It's 1854, and Paris is positively buzzing with the rustle of silk and the salacious whispers of court gossip. Our heroine, the ravishing Spanish-born Eugénie, has just pulled off the social coup of the century - marrying Emperor Napoleon III himself!

But what's a newly minted empress to do with a wardrobe that could clothe a small army and no proper way to transport it? Enter our dashing young malletier, Louis Vuitton.Back in 1854, when Vuitton first established himself as a malletier (trunk-maker) on Rue Neuve des Capucines in Paris, he was charged not only with crafting the Empress's luggage but with filling it too....This week on HIGH SOCIETEA X THE CURIO AESTHETE