FLOAT 100 · Handbags · No. 43
Louis Vuitton Petite Malle Souple
Nicolas Ghesquière shrank a Louis Vuitton steamer trunk into a hard little handbag for his first show; six years later the house let the air out of it, and the soft trunk became its own collectible.
- Year
- current
- Maker
- Louis Vuitton
- By price in handbags
- 66 of 100
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Create a free account- Maker
- Louis Vuitton, under women's creative director Nicolas Ghesquière
- Parent design
- The Petite Malle, a miniature hard trunk from Ghesquière's first Louis Vuitton show, Fall-Winter 2014
- This entry
- Petite Malle Souple, the soft top-handle version released for Pre-Fall 2020
- Launched
- Online in the US in early September 2020, in limited quantities
- Launch price
- $3,000 in Monogram canvas; $3,300 in Monogram Empreinte leather
- Size
- About 20 x 14 x 7.5 cm (7.9 x 5.5 x 3 inches)
- Trunk details
- Riveted leather corners and a leather luggage tag
- Carry
- Leather top handle, removable gold-tone chain, adjustable jacquard logo strap
- Earlier version
- A first Petite Malle Souple was announced for Spring-Summer 2015 and later discontinued
A trunk small enough to carry
The Petite Malle, French for 'little trunk,' was the standout bag of Nicolas Ghesquière's first collection for Louis Vuitton, Fall-Winter 2014. The idea was to take the house's classic trunk and shrink it into something worn on the shoulder. One handbag writer, reviewing the show the day after, called the mini trunks his favorite Vuitton runway piece in recent memory.
Ghesquière drew on the house's earliest travel trunks. The three floating X's on the first Petite Malle refer to the banker and philanthropist Albert Kahn, whose custom Louis Vuitton trunks were covered in red toile and marked with three white X's as his signature.
The hard Petite Malle is built like a real trunk: golden brass fittings, calfskin trim, an engraved S-lock that actually locks with a matching key, and a border of tiny brass nails hammered in one by one. A team of about 30 artisans at the house's workshop in Ducey, in northwestern France, is dedicated to making it.
The designer
Ghesquière was born on May 9, 1971, in Comines, France. He assisted Jean Paul Gaultier from 1990 to 1992 and in 1997, at 25, became creative director of Balenciaga, where his Lariat bag became a modern classic. He left Balenciaga in November 2012.
Louis Vuitton named him to succeed Marc Jacobs on November 4, 2013, and he presented his first collection for the house on March 5, 2014. That show introduced the Petite Malle. His contract was renewed in 2018 and 2022.
Since 2014 he has reworked the little trunk many times, in bright colors, special embellishments and materials such as Epi and Vernis leather, python and reverse Monogram. The Souple is the version that gave up the hard shell.
Letting the air out
A box-shaped hard bag is not easy to carry, and the house first answered that for the Spring-Summer 2015 collection with a Petite Malle Souple, a softer version. That first version replaced the X signature with a luggage tag. It was later discontinued.
The version tracked here arrived for Pre-Fall 2020. It went on sale in the United States in early September 2020, in limited quantities and online only at first, for $3,000 in Monogram canvas, with leather finishes in black or peach that matched the strap and interior. A Monogram Empreinte leather version was priced at $3,300. In Europe the canvas bag cost €2,150 and in the United Kingdom £2,020.
It kept the trunk's riveted corners and a leather luggage tag, added a leather top handle and a removable gold chain, and borrowed the wide jacquard strap embroidered with the Louis Vuitton name from the Multi Pochette Accessoires, the house's most popular bag of 2019. Handbag press at the time described it as more compact and more functional than its hard sister.
Launching into 2020
The Souple came out between France's pandemic lockdowns. The first ran from March 17 to May 11, 2020; a second began on October 30, 2020. The new bag was first offered exclusively on the brand's website.
A month after the launch, on October 6, 2020, Ghesquière showed his Spring 2021 collection to a live audience inside La Samaritaine, the Paris department store owned by LVMH that had been closed since 2005 and did not reopen until June 2021.
The hard Petite Malle kept rising in price through the period: it was listed at $5,500 in the United States in October 2021, and the maker listed it at $6,600 in October 2026.
How to identify a Petite Malle Souple
Look for a soft, rounded body in Monogram canvas or embossed Monogram Empreinte leather, riveted leather corners like a trunk's, a leather luggage tag, a leather top handle, a removable gold-tone chain and a wide strap embroidered with the Louis Vuitton name. A resale listing also notes a zippered pocket.
Sources give the same numbers in different orders. One resale reference gives 20 x 14 x 7.5 cm, length by height by width; a launch report gives 5.5 inches long by 7.9 inches wide by 3 inches deep; a current resale listing gives a height of 5.5 inches, width of 7.9 inches and depth of 3 inches. The bag is about 7.9 inches across and 5.5 inches tall.
The hard Petite Malle is a different bag: a rigid box with a working S-lock. The maker currently gives it as 7.9 x 4.9 x 2.4 inches, while an older resale guide gave 7.4 x 2 x 4.6 inches.
The numbers
- Dimensions
- 20 x 14 x 7.5 cm (about 7.9 x 5.5 x 3 inches)
- Material
- Monogram coated canvas or Monogram Empreinte leather, with leather trim
- Hardware
- Gold-tone removable chain; riveted corners; leather luggage tag
- Straps
- Leather top handle; adjustable jacquard strap embroidered with the Louis Vuitton name
- Launch colors (canvas)
- Black or peach leather finishes
- Production quantity
- Not published; launched in limited quantities
Timeline
Louis Vuitton names Nicolas Ghesquière creative director of its women's collections.
Ghesquière's first Louis Vuitton show introduces the Petite Malle, a miniature hard trunk.
A first Petite Malle Souple is announced for the Spring-Summer 2015 collection; it is later discontinued.
The new Petite Malle Souple launches online in the US at $3,000 in Monogram canvas.
Prices are reported for the Monogram Empreinte version: $3,300.
A US price increase leaves the hard Petite Malle at $5,500.
Ghesquière's contract with Louis Vuitton is renewed.
The maker lists the hard Petite Malle at $6,600; a pre-owned Souple is offered at $2,495.
The world in 2020
France begins its first national COVID-19 lockdown, lifted on May 11.
Louis Vuitton shows its Spring 2021 collection inside the still-closed La Samaritaine in Paris.
France enters a second national lockdown.
France begins a third national lockdown.
La Samaritaine reopens to the public after sixteen years.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 8, 2020 | $3,000 | Asking price, not a saleUS retail price at launch, Monogram canvas. |
| Oct 18, 2020 | $3,300 | Asking price, not a saleUS retail price, Monogram Empreinte leather version. |
| Oct 1, 2026 | $2,495 | Asking price, not a salePre-owned Monogram canvas example in excellent condition, offered for resale. |
This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.
By reference price, Louis Vuitton Petite Malle Souple is number 66 of 100 in the handbags entries of the FLOAT 100. 19 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (43 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- The three X's on the original Petite Malle were the signature of banker Albert Kahn, whose Louis Vuitton trunks were covered in red toile.
- The hard Petite Malle's lock works and comes with a matching key.
- About 30 artisans in Ducey, France, are dedicated to building the hard Petite Malle.
- There have been two Petite Malle Souple bags: one for Spring-Summer 2015 and the current design from 2020.
- The Souple's wide logo strap was borrowed from the Multi Pochette Accessoires.
- At launch the Souple cost less than half of what the hard Petite Malle costs at the maker today.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 1, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026