For her black steamer trunk adorned with golden jewellery, Coco Chanel chose two silver and scarlet horizontal stripes complete with two capital “c” letters of the same vibrant red, yet separated by a dot and not intertwined as in the logo of her own House. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor followed the British tradition and displayed their full titles and names on the many pieces of luggage by Goyard -whether trunks, suitcases or hat boxes- that were their inseparable travel companions. Unlike Coco, the Duke and Duchess favoured vertical stripes: red and bright yellow for the Duke, royal blue and yellow for the Duchess. Legendary pianist Arthur Rubinstein disregarded all kinds of stripes, and simply used the initial of his first name and his full last name in green and white, along with his New York address on the sides, to personalize the robust trunk that followed him on tour.
Since 1853, generations of skilled artisans marqueurs have worked in the Goyard workshops, and have monogrammed trunks and suitcases for generations of discerning customers. This unique wealth of craft expertise has been carefully kept alive. Today just like yesterday, the art of luggage personalization by Goyard is respectful of the great tradition of marquage malletier: entirely made by hand by accomplished artisans, and using exclusive, strictly natural pigments, it captures with precision and sensitivity the customization choices of each customer, as imagined with the help of our team. This stage of in-store counselling is crucial, and Goyard sales ambassadors will be happy to guide through our vast range of fonts, stripes, and shades, and the many combinations possible. They will make sure your personalization perfectly matches your personality and lifestyle, and truly expresses who you are.
For those willing to get acquainted with the core principles of its art of luggage personalization, Goyard has designed an innovative online simulator at once user-friendly, fun and highly realistic. After picking the shade of Goyardine of your choice, you can unleash your creativity, and play to your heart’s content with stripes, letters and colours. If a specific combination strikes your fancy, its full references will be sent to you via Email, so you may use them as a base for a future customization. Do bear in mind that our online simulator only features a small fraction of the possibilities and options (more colours and fonts, multiple stripes, special designs like crests, coats of arms, cartouches and armorials) available at Goyard boutiques worldwide.
04-22-2013
Anyone curious about Japan, and willing to understand its culture better, is bound to face sooner or later an uncomfortable truth: the Empire of the Rising Sun is unlike any other on the face of the earth, and its ways are mostly riddles to the uninitiated.
But there are quests that are so deeply human that they become universal, and the quest for beauty through craftsmanship is undoubtedly one of them. For dozens of generations, Nippon arts & crafts have honed numberless masterpieces, and the Japanese hold artisans in such high esteem that a special, quasi divine status was created for the most skilled of them: they legally become living treasures.
Goyard shares this endless quest for beauty through the perfect gesture of the artisan. One of the prime concerns of our Maison is to keep alive the unique wealth of know-how passed on from one generation of craftsmen to another ever since 1853 by constantly training new artisans. At Goyard, we fully know that the craftsperson and their artefact are indivisible: it is their passion and dedication that fashion exceptional trunks and bags. Skills are only the tip of the iceberg: it is that extra touch of soul they bring that lends Goyard creations their unique appeal.
This common sensitivity is certainly one of the reasons why Maison Goyard enjoys such a privileged relationship with Japan. Japanese people understand our vision based on tradition and attention to detail, just like we understand their demands for authenticity and perfection. This mutual understanding deserved a place worthy of it, and it is now the case with the newly renovated Goyard boutique at Isetan Shinjyuku department store in Tokyo.
Located on the luxury floor (fourth floor) of the store, this 70 sq. meter (750 sq. feet) space showcases the entire Goyard range in a timeless and refined atmosphere. Our team are committed to providing detailed, attentive service paired with courtesy and expertise. They will also introduce Tokyo customers to the art of personalization by Goyard, as the outstanding savoir-faire of four customization artisans is at the disposal of those among our distinguished clientele willing to make their Goyard even more special and distinctive. A genuine, well alive and living treasure of skills one may playfully get acquainted with before paying a visit to our boutique thanks to our exclusive online simulator.
04-15-2013
Since its inception in 1853, Goyard has been faced time and again with a most sensitive decision: come up with a proper name for each new creation.
A Cornelian choice that is also a highly symbolic and significant one, as the names elected by Goyard are not the result of mere whim or chance: they are all inspired by its rich heritage. In their own special way, they do more than just tell its history: they reveal its very intimacy and imagination.
Many of them are integral part of a sentimental geography where provincial roots, Parisian identity and distant horizons mingle. For instance, the Clamecy pen was named after the small town in Morvan the Goyards originate from, while the Bellechasse bag –originally designed to hold and carry bottles of wine- owes its name to the street in the 7th arrondissement of Paris where lived the Grand Cru lover it was custom-made for. Needless to say, the Fidji or the Saint Martin both are irresistible invitations to dream and travel.
Adorned with touches of beech wood –the traditional material of choice for the reinforcing rods used for steamer trunks- and Malletier nails, the Marquises bag evidently belongs on the Goyard family tree, and pays tribute to the ancestral savoir-faire and aesthetic codes of the Maison. The spiritual son of the Saint Louis also belongs to Goyard’s imaginary geography, a world where one effortlessly island hops from a tiny isle nestled in the heart of Paris to a Pacific Ocean archipelago beloved by Gauguin and Jacques Brel.
But beyond this continuing legacy, the Marquises cultivates its difference and asserts its own personality through a radical reinterpretation of the Saint Louis, as the soft shapes of the iconic tote bag turn into structured volumes and clean lines. Yet, even if it displays a family resemblance, and has the same knack for timeless elegance and down-to-earth practicality- the latter being illustrated by the addition of a zipper – the Marquises is not simply a variation of the Saint Louis, or the new heir to a prestigious lineage: it is a daring and singular instant classic that straightaway takes its place in the realm of Goyard.
03-01-2013
You may feel like you already know your Saint-Louis very well.
Thanks to its bold shape, which reinvented the tote bags of old with panache, and initiated a global trend, its versatility striking a perfect balance between style and casualness, and its famous Chevron canvas, this bag unlike any other has become iconic, and many women around the world have made it their personal favourite.
In other words, the Saint-Louis is a bona fide classic; the kind of timeless staple one feels very familiar with. But isn’t it the very essence of a classic to surprise and amaze over and over again, especially those who think they already know everything there is to know about it?
Ever since Faust, it has been a known fact that the devil lies in the details. The aesthetic and practical success of the Saint-Louis is precisely the end result of a sum of details at once meticulous and essential, making it a technically highly complex creation, despite its apparent simplicity.
Without disclosing all its secrets, a sure way to fathom the discreet sophistication of the Saint-Louis is to take a closer look at it, and turn it inside out. By doing so, one detail strikes the examiner right away: the perfect symmetry of the inside with the outside, which attests to absolutely perfect finishing stitches and echoes the equally perfect inside/outside symmetry of the chapes, a genuine technical feat only made possible by a Goyard exclusive process ensuring both high tensile strength and a sleek look.
Another key detail: the fine quality of the handles. The Saint Louis ones are made by specialized artisans using the “stacked leather” technique, which allows to alter the thickness of the leather at will, and adjust it to wear and tear in critical areas. Leather piping covers all inner seams, thus enhancing the immaculate cotton and linen canvas entirely woven, shaved and singed in the Goyard workshops in southern France. Just like the Goyardine on the outside, the inside canvas gains a special lustre and softens to a beautiful light sheen over the years, and its less is more, minimal elegance lends itself to any and every circumstance.
At the end of the day, the inside of the Saint Louis is much more than just a fancy wrong side: it is an alternative version in the fullest sense of the term, whose appearance and functionality were as carefully thought of as those of the right side.
One last detail, and one last surprise: by wearing your Saint-Louis inside out, you will be able to combine the strength and waterproof quality of the Goyardine used as the wrong side, and the chic of the delicate off-white hue of the inside canvas used as the right side, and turn, for instance, your favourite city bag into an ideal beach accessory wherein to carry your bathing suit.
In the “Classics” entry of his famed Dictionnary of Received Ideas, Flaubert wrote: “We’re supposed to know them”. Let yourself be surprised by your Saint Louis once again.
01-28-2013
During the interwar period, Edmond Goyard received a most special and challenging order from Conan Doyle: design a “portable office” the father of Sherlock Holmes could use during his extensive travels. The Goyard workshops did more than just meet the said challenge: they came up with a state-of-the-art “writer’s trunk”, whose size only marginally exceeded that of a standard trunk although it featured a folding desk, book shelves, a typewriter and various drawers where to keep precious documents and manuscripts safe.
When Doyle died in 1930, Conan Doyle’s son, Denys Percy Stewart, who was married to Georgian princess and prominent socialite Nina M’divani, kept on using the ingenious trunk to attend numerous international events and seminars dedicated to his late father’s legacy, up until his own untimely demise in India in 1955, a few days short of his 46th birthday.
Goyard has maintained a privileged relationship with travelling writers of all kinds, whether they are famous or unknown, actually touring the globe or rather daydreaming about distant horizons, and has repeatedly paid tribute to the rich bounds that have long united literature and travels, notably through a selection of timeless travel accessories, including diaries, writing pads and document holders, all celebrating a certain art of travelling in style.
The Clamecy pen is the latest addition to this traditional range. Named after the small village in Burgundy the Goyards originate from, it revisits the codes of our Maison with its Chevron pattern that mimics that of our iconic Goyardine canvas, and recreates through careful light and shadow effects its trademark slightly-raised surface, a true technical feat allowed by the use of a special 3-angle engraving process. Only the finest materials were used to manufacture the Clamecy: both the hollow barrel and the cap are entirely made with solid sterling silver, and the motif on the cap is engraved by hand. It is available in fountain pen version, equipped with a platinum and gold plated nib, or in ballpoint pen version, as to cater to the needs of lovers of practical or sophisticated writing alike.
The Clamecy pen case is quintessentially Goyard, and embodies the Maison’s enduring values of savoir-faire and refinement. Each case features a calf travel pouch with lambskin lining, available in natural or black leather, and a “stacked leather” display tray, an ancestral technique using multiple layers of leather that Goyard is one of the very last to still master and use.
Last but not least, the Clamecy also conveys a sense of exclusivity that is one of Goyard’s core values: each pen is engraved with a specific record number, which will be noted upon purchase in a special registry book kept in our boutique at 352, rue Saint-Honoré, the only Goyard outlet in the world where to find the Clamecy. Each buyer will be invited to write down a message. A charming way to become part of Goyard’s history, together with an invitation to finally indulge the Sunday writer in each and every of us.
01-14-2013
During the holiday season, Goyard's historic flagship store windows at 233 rue Saint-Honoré celebrate the Maison's legacy, and display two exceptional vintage trunks from its Heritage Collection perfectly embodying the spirit of the Maison: a 1914 "ladies' drawer trunk" originally designed for lingerie, gowns, hats and shoes, and a "drawer trunk"dating from 1911. Both are showcased in a most sober fashion, as to highlight their timeless beauty and elegance.
12-21-2012
Right accross the street, the Goyard Chic du Chien boutique at 352, rue Saint-Honoré pays tribute to the relationship between travelling and writing with special window displays unveiling the Clamecy pen for the first time.
12-21-2012
Goyardine is now available in grey. A safe choice? Rather, a subtle and misunderstood shade that is not what it seems.
Hindus consider it to be a sacred colour: that of the clouds of incense carrying the prayers of believers up to the sky and to the countless gods of the Hindu pantheon. In Scandinavian mythology, it is the colour of dusk, a moment of perfect harmony between day and night, good and evil. In the Catholic liturgy, it is the vehicle of the transmigration of the souls of men freed at last from their fleshly envelope. The Scottish monks of the medieval Brotherhood of Holyrood chose it as their order’s emblematic colour, for they believed it to be the true colour of purity, standing at equal distance from the obviousness of darkness and the arrogance of light.
Grey is not an ordinary colour. In fact, it is not even a colour, but a variation of the luminous intensity shining from a light source. In other words, it is an illusion. When it comes to painting, grey is exactly the opposite of what one might assume: certainly not a predictable blend of black and white, but rather the unexpected encounter of vivid pigments such as magenta, cyan and yellow. At once spiritual and serene, its unfathomable mystery has fascinated generations of artists. Turner spent his whole life trying to capture the ever-shifting shades of slate, silver and pearl of the English sky. Hokusai used it as the central colour for his famous One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji. Picasso called it “an intelligent colour” that only fools disregard, and only real painters can touch. It should then come as no surprise that in neurology, the substance that composes the brain is referred to as “grey matter”. Grey is indeed an intellectual colour.
Grey is anything but safe. It is a discerning choice, a visual treat for chromatic connoisseurs, almost a mystical calling. Or at least that is what Graham Greene seemed to believe when he wrote in his novel The Power and the Glory that “the human soul is neither black nor white: it is made of infinite shades of grey”.
Goyardine will be available in grey at all Goyard boutiques around the world in December 2012.
12-11-2012
In 1900, François Goyard opened branches in Biarritz and Monte-Carlo, the two holiday destinations of choice for the elite at the turn of the century. Various locations followed one another until 1930: the Helder Hotel, then the Hermitage Hotel in the Principality; the Grand Hotel, Avenue Edouard VII and finally the Old England department store in the Basque Country. After three decades in business, both branches closed down as an aftermath of the Wall Street crash in 1929, and their contents were dispersed.
Somehow miraculously, Goyard has managed to track down some of the original decorative features that adorned these forgotten Belle Époque belles, and had them carefully restored by skilled cabinetmakers. The very same fine wood panels and furniture that used to decorate the Biarritz and Monte-Carlo boutiques a century ago have found a new home at last: the Goyard retail space at Le Printemps de la Mode, which opened its doors on November 16, 2012. A novel store, indeed, yet one with a rich past, in keeping with its surroundings: the beautiful entrance rotunda on the corner of rue Caumartin and rue de Provence. The Goyard retail space is the only one with direct access to the rotunda, whose exquisite mouldings and mosaics are in perfect visual harmony with its own rare vintage interior decoration.
It looks as though Goyard has always been around, and chances are, if the elegant customers of the bygone Biarritz and Monte-Carlo branches were to come back, they would be very much at ease with the Proust-like scenery.
11-30-2012
The year 2012 proved very eventful for Goyard, especially in terms of new boutique openings. Within a few months, three new retail spaces opened in three of the world's fastest-growing metropolises.
First of all, Shanghai. The second Goyard boutique in China after Hong Kong opened in May 2012, in a truly exceptional location: the Yi Feng Galleria, a 101-year-old baroque-style building, one of Shanghai’s architectural gems, set right on the Bund, the city’s most prestigious avenue, and its beating heart.
After China, another rising giant: Brazil. Booming Sao Paulo was an obvious choice for Goyard’s first boutique in South America, just like JK Iguatemi, its finest shopping destination, was an obvious choice too for its location. Famed architectural firm Arquitectona designed this brand new, sleek and resolutely contemporary large-scale luxury mall, which fits in perfectly with this super-sized megalopolis that is Brazil’s cultural and business capital. The Goyard Sao Paulo boutique, which opened doors in June 2012, has its own in-store workshop, so Paulistas may discover the traditional craft of hand-made personalization.
Back to Asia finally, with Taipei in September 2012. If Sao Paulo so far remains the only Goyard boutique in the world to be equipped with its own workshop, the new Goyard store in the Taiwanese capital has its own resident personalization artisan. Events will be regularly organized to display his exceptional know-how. There again, the location was paramount: the Galleria at the Regent, one of Asia’s finest hotels, in the heart of the thriving Zhong Shan district.
For each of these boutiques, Goyard carefully chose every detail: refined materials such as leather and precious wood, rare vintage trunks, creative window displays… Far away from Paris, they are designed to recreate the intimate and exclusive atmosphere of our flagship store at 233, rue Saint-Honoré, and aim to provide customers with a unique shopping experience.
11-15-2012
Le présent site (le "Site") est édité par Goyard St-Honoré, société anonyme au capital de 142.315,73 Euros, immatriculée au registre du commerce et des sociétés de Paris sous le numéro 582 031 373, dont le siège social est situé 233, rue Saint Honoré 75001 Paris, France, Téléphone : 01 42 60 57 04.
Le Directeur de la publication du Site est : Monsieur Jean-Michel SIGNOLES.
L'hébergement du Site est assuré par la société Netbenefit, Astéropolis, rue de Goa, les 3 Moulins 06600 Antibes, France, Téléphone : 04 97 21 22 12.
Le Site a été conçu et réalisé par Addiction Agency.
L'accès au Site ainsi que l'utilisation de son contenu sont soumis aux conditions d'utilisation décrites ci-après.
Goyard St Honoré informe les visiteurs du Site que les présentes conditions peuvent être modifiées à tout moment. Ces modifications entrent en vigueur dès leur mise en ligne et sont réputées acceptées sans réserve par tout visiteur qui accède au Site postérieurement à leur mise en ligne.
Dans un souci d'améliorer la qualité des prestations aux visiteurs de son Site, Goyard St Honoré tient compte de l'évolution législative.
Pour cette raison, Goyard St Honoré demande à ses visiteurs de consulter régulièrement la présente page.
Le fait d'accéder et de naviguer sur le Site constitue de la part du visiteur une acceptation sans réserve des conditions suivantes :
1/ Droits de Propriété Intellectuelle :
La structure générale, les logiciels, textes, images, sons, dessins, graphismes et tout autre élément composant le Site, sont la propriété exclusive de Goyard St Honoré. La société Goyard St Honoré est également la seule autorisée à utiliser et exploiter les droits de propriété intellectuelle liés au Site (droit d’auteur, marques, brevets, dessins et modèles, droit à l’image, et plus généralement tous droits de propriété intellectuelle).
Toute représentation ou reproduction, totale ou partielle des éléments précités et du Site, par quelque procédé que ce soit, sans l'autorisation expresse de Goyard St Honoré est interdite. La reproduction de tous documents publiés sur le Site est seulement autorisée aux fins exclusives d’information pour un usage personnel ou privé, étant précisé que toute reproduction ou représentation commerciale du Site est strictement interdite.
Il est également interdit de copier, modifier, créer une œuvre dérivée, inverser la conception ou l’assemblage ou de toute autre manière tenter de trouver le code source (à l’exception des cas prévus par la loi), vendre, attribuer, sous-licencier ou transférer de quelque manière que ce soit tout droit afférent aux logiciels. De même, il est également interdit de modifier le logiciel ou d’utiliser de versions modifiées des logiciels et notamment (sans que cette énumération soit limitative) en vue d’obtenir un accès non autorisé au service et d’accéder au site par un autre moyen que par l’interface fournie par Goyard Saint Honoré à cet effet.
2/ Goyard St Honoré n’encourt aucune responsabilité pour toute imprécision, inexactitude ou omission portant sur des informations disponibles sur le Site, pour tous dommages résultant d'une intrusion d'un tiers ayant entraîné une modification des informations mises à disposition sur le Site, et plus généralement, pour tous dommages, directs ou indirects, qu'elles qu'en soient les causes, origines, natures et conséquences, provoqués à raison de l'accès de quiconque au Site ou de l'impossibilité d'y accéder, de même que l'utilisation du Site et/ou du crédit accordé à une quelconque information provenant directement ou indirectement de ce dernier.
3/ Loi Informatique et Libertés :
Aucune information personnelle n'est collectée à l'insu de l'internaute ni utilisée à des fins non prévues, ni cédée à des tiers.
4/ La création de liens hypertextes vers le Site ne peut être faite qu'avec l'autorisation écrite et préalable de Goyard St Honoré, laquelle pourra être révoquée à tout moment. Goyard St Honoré décline toute responsabilité concernant le contenu des sites liés de cette manière au Site de Goyard St Honoré.
5/ Nullité - nullité partielle des clauses
Si une partie de ces conditions est considérée comme nulle, cette partie sera interprétée conformément au droit français de la manière la plus large possible. Si une ou plusieurs dispositions des conditions deviennent ou sont déclarées nulles par un tribunal compétent, cette ou ces disposition(s) seront nulles et non avenues et considérées comme supprimées. Toutes les autres dispositions contenues dans ces conditions resteront effectives et en vigueur.
6/ Le Site et les présentes conditions d’utilisation sont régis par le droit français. Tout litige lié à l’utilisation du Site ou aux présentes conditions d’utilisation est de la compétence territoriale des juridictions françaises.
7/ Accès au Site :
Le Site est accessible 24H/24, 7jours/7j sauf en cas de force majeure, de période de maintenance, de difficultés techniques et/ou informatiques et/ou de télécommunication et pour des raisons de sécurité.