Anyone travel with full set bespoke luggage?

[JeffOYB]

...Just curious.

It would make a bit of a hit at the airport, I would think. Or on the cruise ship dock.

Say, five pieces of matching leather-clad luggage in various sizes.

(Maybe five pieces is going light in that world.)

So, anyone here ever travel with a LOT of VERY nice luggage pieces? : )

Any bon voyage photos?

 

[Mike K.]

I traveled to last year's Fedora Lounge gathering at the Queen Mary with my vintage tweed/leather hard suitcase (the one on the bottom of the photo). Although I didn't have a need for my full luggage set, I received a number of compliments from various airline stewards and stewardesses (sorry, I prefer the traditional/romantic terms). I guess after seeing the daily parade of black & gray nylon cordura wheeled lookalikes for so long, it was refreshing to see something vintage being used. There was some concern that my luggage wouldn't fit in the overhead bin on some of the smaller jets, but it fit perfectly!

 

[JeffOYB]

Very nice!

Did you need a porter? : )

...Next...

Does anyone here have a valet? : )

 

[Feraud]

I would not trust the baggage handlers with bespoke luggage.
A carry on piece could work but definitely not an expensive or vintage item.

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

Ah, I would *love* that! I loved the suitcases in the Darjeeling limited, for example, created by Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton.

However, impractical, impractical, impractical. I am the owner of what was once a very nice Diane von Furstenberg red and black print large suitcase with patent leather reinforcement. It is now very scuffed and torn in places from mistreatment and stacking in the airport and cargo areas in the airport.

Plus, nice suitcases would probably get ransacked/stolen in not too much time. So until you can afford that private jet, or unless you travel some way in which the luggage stays in your hands the entire time, you might want to steer clear.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

My thought is...by the time you have the $ to be purchasing -bespoke- luggage, you would have the money to be traveling in the manner Bella suggests, without needing to have the pesky troubles us poor folk deal with. Bespoke luggage in -herd- class......hmmm smacks of pretension to my sensibilties, but maybe thats just me.


alas, I have neither the income or the luggage

 

[Tux Toledo]

I would also be concerned for the safety of the luggage. Between mishandling and theft I'd be a nervous wreck. If I could have the pieces with me at all times it would be different. I think bespoke luggage would be great if one was traveling by Rolls Royce or on the Super Chief.

 

[Josephine]

If I'm traveling my car, I use my Belber set (only 2 cases). If by plane or someplace where my bags will be handled by a porter, etc, I use my Land's End canvas case. I don't want to risk my Belber to be anymore beat up.

 

[MK]

.

I can't imagine needing bespoke luggage. I have a collection of vintage luggage that I never check at airports. I am currently looking to replace my fly luggage because it is ten plus years old and is falling apart. I fly about one a month so my suitcases are really put through their paces.

We have a great article on luggage in the next issue of Classic Style. The writer flys far more than I do. I learned a lot and the information has been a big help in my current hunt for new luggage. I hadn't even heard of the brands I am looking for before reading the article.

 

[Bourbon Guy]

Good luggage only in the car and on the train. Hartmann through the airports.

 

[Edward]

I agree that the typical bespoke luggage user isn't likely to have the same worries we mortals do when travelling - and in any case, the cost of replacement is all relative to your income....

My next luggage will, I think, come from the Leather Briefcase Company - www.theleatherbriefcase.co.uk I'm in love with the idea of using a Golden Age style gladstone holdall instead of a suitcase. Somethingl ike this beauty:

Holdalls, it seems to me, take blows better than a suitcase. All the same, it'll be a bit of a gamble for me as I'm so used to using cheap market suitcases. Here in the UK, baggage handlers treat all luggage with nothing short of cmoplete and utter contempt. I believe that the system facilitates this. I don't know how it works elsewhere, but here while it is the airline who is responsible to the passenger and must compensate for loss or damage, the baggage handlers who cause the damage are employed by the airports, not the airlines. Result: no chain of accountability, and so it is allowed to continue. This is why I prefer to travel by train where practical - that and the lack of limitations on luggage weight, of course!

My current suitcase is beaten to doo-doo, and it's only 18 months old. I certainly wouldn't trust airlines with something vintage. And to be honest, I wouldn't even take an irreplaceable bag on as hand luggage now. Most airlines here have started charging for hold baggage separately. The result is that so many people try to take everything as carry on that the overhead bins are bulging at the seams and anything you put in there risks getting squashed. Boo.

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

Holdalls, it seems to me, take blows better than a suitcase.

The bag does, but it would seem to me the content probably suffers more, especially where anything but soft clothes are concerned such as electric appliances or flasks. Or a hat, which you might put in a hard suitcase if you secure and stuff it.

If you like them for the looks, you can take one on-flight, of course, where you have at least more control over how it is handled.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

Just need to find a few Connies and DC-7s that could be restored to flight status and we're all set.

 

[Darhling]

I would never check these babies in on a plane, but they are great when travelling by train throughout Europe or by car

even though the pieces aren't vintage, the make certainly is.. I believe Vuitton goes back untill the late 1890ies..

I also got all the tags monogrammed

 

[Darhling]

Voyage pics..

Waiting for my sportscar to be loaded of the autotrain (you can travel by train throughout Europe and load your car onto the train). Our suitcases (the two vuitton ones) were in the trunk of the car so we had just a change of clothes and toiletries in the bags you see.

Here we have landed in Avignon, France

Sorry for the VERY tired look, but I was sooo tired. We are dining in the dinnercar at the train, which was SO nice - I wish I had dressed up