Few luxury brands today can claim to have been founded before their country of origin was established. Delvaux is one of the rare few. In 1829, Charles Delvaux opened a small travel leather goods boutique in Brussels, just a year before the Kingdom of Belgium was established. A remarkable visionary, Charles foresaw the travel revolution which found Belgium at the forefront. By 1875, the country had the highest density of rail networks in the world. Today, Delvaux is the oldest luxury leather goods maison in the world.
Distinguished by its innovative spirit and savoir-faire, Delvaux was granted the title of “Official purveyor to the Royal Court of Belgium” in 1883 when the brand supplied leather goods to Belgium’s royalty. The maison invented the modern handbag when it led the first-ever patent for handbags in 1908, and was the first to introduce seasonal accessory collections in the 1930s.
In its almost 200 years of uninterrupted history, the brand has seen generations of leather artisans designing and crafting in the brand’s three ateliers located in Belgium and France, using hides from the nest French and Italian tanneries. Known for its luxurious handbags such as the Brillant and the Tempête, the brand sits at the top of the luxury pyramid and is often referred to as the Hermès of
Belgium.
In the new Pavilion Kuala Lumpur store, you will find Delvaux’s latest Fall/Winter 2023 offerings. Two of the emblematic silhouettes, the Brillant and Pin, are reimagined in robust grey felt with contrast leather trim in a palette of brandy (spanned tan), aloe (lime green) and honey (orange-yellow).
Meanwhile, the Brillant l—a Delvaux signature since 1958—got a facelift by French designer Jean Colonna. The result is the L’XXL, which showcases the designer’s subtle irreverence and unconventional instincts in a refreshingly larger size made in the most supple and cloud-like leather. Speaking of big, the brand also introduced the Tempête XL Fly, an oversized version of a classic design originally inspired
by a sailboat’s trapeze.
In its own quiet way, Delvaux has lasted almost two centuries and battled through waves of logomania and maximalism. The opening of its new store couldn’t be more timely as the wave of quiet luxury crashed in. But for those who know luxury, you’d know before quiet luxury even existed, there was Delvaux.
This article was first published in the print edition of Grazia Malaysia September 2023.