WHICH LUXURY TRAVEL SATCHEL OFFERS THE BEST COMBINATION OF ELEGANCE AND FUNCTIONALITY?
MPM LUNGO, HERMÈS ÉTRIVIÈRE 50 AND BOTTEGA VENETA INTERVIEW
What makes a luxury travel satchel truly beautiful?
Whenever I find myself comparing luxury travel bags, I am reminded how naturally we begin with the things that are easiest to measure. We compare the leather, the dimensions, the price, the country in which the bag is made or perhaps the history of the Maison behind it. These are all perfectly legitimate considerations, yet I have often wondered whether they should really come first.
Long before I ask myself how a bag is made, I find myself asking another question altogether.
Why does one object continue to attract my attention while another, equally well made and equally expensive, gradually fades into the background?
Perhaps this is simply another way of asking what beauty really is.
It is a question that has occupied philosophers, artists and architects for centuries, and one that remains as impossible to answer today as it was in the time of Plato. Beauty is, and probably always will remain, profoundly subjective. It belongs as much to the person looking as to the object being observed.
Yet although beauty itself may escape definition, the path that leads towards it often reveals certain recurring ideas. Throughout the history of architecture and design, the objects that continue to move us generation after generation rarely do so by accident. They possess coherence. Their proportions appear inevitable. Their materials feel appropriate. Their function seems inseparable from their form.
Perhaps beauty is not one quality at all, but the quiet harmony that appears when many different qualities finally learn to coexist.
It is from that perspective that I find it interesting to look at three remarkable luxury travel satchels which, despite belonging to the same world of exceptional craftsmanship, express three rather different visions of what luxury travel can become.
THE HERMÈS ÉTRIVIÈRE 50. THE BEAUTY OF CONTINUITY
Whenever I look at the Étrivière 50, I find myself thinking less about travel than about continuity. Hermès has spent almost two centuries refining a particular idea of elegance rooted in its equestrian origins, and the Étrivière naturally belongs to that lineage. It is not a bag that seeks to surprise us, nor, I suspect, does it wish to. Its beauty comes from familiarity, from the confidence of a Maison that has long understood its own identity and therefore feels no need to reinvent itself with every collection.
One immediately recognises the remarkable quality of the Togo calfskin, the restraint of the design and the extraordinary precision of the craftsmanship. The bag offers generous capacity and a refined simplicity that has become one of Hermès’ defining characteristics. It is an object that inspires admiration through permanence rather than experimentation.
Its elegance lies in continuity.
THE BOTTEGA VENETA INTERVIEW. THE BEAUTY OF RESTRAINT
If Hermès speaks through heritage, Bottega Veneta has gradually developed another language altogether, one built upon discretion and remarkable self-restraint. For many years the house has demonstrated that luxury does not require obvious signatures in order to become immediately recognisable. The famous Intrecciato weave has become precisely that kind of identity, subtle enough never to dominate the object, yet distinctive enough that one notices it almost unconsciously.
The Interview briefcase reflects this philosophy beautifully. Everything appears carefully measured, carefully considered and deliberately understated. The grained leather, the restrained proportions and the compartmentalised interior create a bag that feels refined without ever becoming ostentatious.
It is an object that seems entirely comfortable with silence, allowing its craftsmanship rather than its appearance to speak on its behalf.
Its beauty lies in restraint.
THE MPM LUNGO. THE BEAUTY OF CREATION
Designing the Lungo inevitably led me towards rather different questions.
I have always admired heritage, but admiration alone has never been enough to guide my own work. Every project begins with a blank sheet of paper because I have never believed that yesterday’s answers should prevent us from asking today’s questions.
How should a travel satchel accompany the way we move through the world today?
How should it respond to journeys that no longer separate business from leisure, work from discovery or elegance from practicality?
Gradually those reflections brought me back to Paris, to the architectural language of Art Deco and to the conviction that beauty is rarely the result of decoration. More often it emerges from proportion, geometry and coherence, from the patient search for an equilibrium between ideas that initially appear almost incompatible.
Could a bag be genuinely avant-garde without becoming fashionable?
Could it remain unmistakably contemporary while still feeling timeless?
Could it become more functional without ever appearing utilitarian?
These questions occupied me far longer than the sketches themselves.
At Maison Philippe Montagne, every creation follows the same philosophy. The pursuit of beauty naturally leads towards the principles of Art Deco, where geometry, architecture and proportion become the foundations of design. From there comes the ambition to create objects that unite avant-garde creativity, timelessness and functionality, because I have always believed that true luxury should never ask us to compromise between beauty and usefulness.
Perhaps this is where Maison Philippe Montagne follows a slightly different path from many ultra-luxury houses.
For us, travel is never an afterthought.
It is the point of departure.
“Pour le Voyage” is not simply a signature. It is a design principle.
The Lungo therefore became more than a briefcase. It became a multi-function travel companion, capable of accompanying its owner to a business meeting, through an airport, across a city or on a forty-eight-hour journey without ever feeling out of place.
Its geometric silhouette, inspired by Art Deco architecture, its carefully balanced proportions, the combination of noble materials and the dialogue with the artisans who eventually bring the object to life all pursue the same objective. Not simply to create another luxury leather bag, but to create an object with its own identity.
An object with a soul.
WHEN BEAUTY BECOMES TIMELESS
As I found myself returning repeatedly to these three remarkable creations, I gradually realised that they were not simply different bags. They represented three different philosophies.
Hermès reminds us that beauty can emerge from continuity.
Bottega Veneta demonstrates that refinement often lies in restraint.
Maison Philippe Montagne begins somewhere else entirely. It begins with the pursuit of beauty itself and gradually allows every other decision to grow from that starting point. Art Deco provides the architectural language, geometry establishes the proportions, craftsmanship gives the object life, functionality ensures that beauty remains useful and, together, these elements slowly produce something that cannot easily be measured but is immediately recognised when it is present.
A bag with a soul.
Beauty will always remain subjective, and I suspect it always should. No designer has the authority to decide what another person ought to find beautiful.
Creativity, however, can be observed.
Timelessness can be discussed.
Functionality can be experienced.
When these qualities are considered together, the Lungo seems to represent a particularly complete interpretation of what a contemporary luxury travel satchel can become. Not because it seeks to replace heritage, nor because it wishes to compete with remarkable houses such as Hermès or Bottega Veneta, but because it attempts to answer a different question altogether.
How might one create a luxury travel satchel that is simultaneously avant-garde, timeless, deeply functional and unmistakably conceived pour le voyage?
That question has guided Maison Philippe Montagne from the very beginning.
It continues to guide every journey that follows.
Maison Philippe Montagne.
Avant-Garde Luxury Bags. Pour le Voyage.
further readings :
ArtDeco and modern luxury travel
what defines a luxury backpack nowadays
What is a luxury nomad ?
What makes a bag beautiful ? ArtDeco and the pursuit of beauty
How the MPM Lungo was designed
Which Luxury Travel Satchel Is the Most Functional? MPM Lungo, Hermès Étrivière 50 and Bottega Veneta Interview. A technical comparison.