Louis Vuitton Speedy Bandouliere 25

A bag named for speed

Louis Vuitton's own account says the Speedy was created in the 1930s as the Express carry-on bag and later renamed, and that Gaston-Louis Vuitton designed it to reflect the era's fascination with speed. The house's current product copy puts it more simply: the bag was originally created for travelers in the 1930s, and the name refers to the era's rapid transit. Louis Vuitton dates the launch to 1930.

The first Speedy was a 30-centimeter bag, a smaller, more streamlined cousin of the house's Keepall duffel. Because it was made of soft cotton canvas, it could be flattened and packed inside a suitcase. Sources disagree on the Keepall's own date: Louis Vuitton says the Keepall was introduced in the 1930s under the name Tientout, while a history in Harper's Bazaar describes it as launched six years before the Speedy.

According to the same accounts, the first Speedy was made from coated canvas without a logo and was soon reworked in the house's Monogram. Louis Vuitton says that in 1959 the Speedy was reimagined in Monogram canvas and turned into a handbag. That was possible because, in the late 1950s, Claude-Louis Vuitton developed a new coating process that made the Monogram canvas flexible enough for soft bags. Before then it had suited only rigid luggage.

Xavier Dixsaut, described as director of innovation at Louis Vuitton, summed up the change in a quote reproduced by one vintage dealer: the Speedy was 'for a long time, a pure travel accessory' with a padlock like all the travel pieces, and then 'from an accessory product, it became a handbag in its own right,' keeping its Toron handles in natural cowhide and its riveted tabs.

Audrey Hepburn's 25

The 25-centimeter size exists because of Audrey Hepburn. Every source consulted agrees that she asked Louis Vuitton for a smaller version of the bag, which was then sold in 30, 35 and 40 centimeters, and that the house made the Speedy 25 for her. The sources do not agree on when. One vintage dealer dates her request to 1959, British Vogue says it happened during the 1960s, and Harper's Bazaar gives 1965, after the success of Breakfast at Tiffany's in 1961.

Harper's Bazaar traces her use of the bag through press photographs: at Heathrow airport in 1965, at lunch in Paris in 1967 in a Givenchy trouser suit, in Rome in 1968, and again in the 1980s, when she was photographed at airports carrying two Speedy 25s at once. In those later pictures the hand-stitched Toron handles had darkened to a deep amber patina. The magazine adds that the small bag gained a following that included Jackie Kennedy and Lauren Bacall.

The number in the name is a measurement. The Speedy's sizes refer to the width of the bag in centimeters, so the 25 is about 25 centimeters across. On the current US site the Bandouliere 25 measures 9.8 by 7.5 by 5.9 inches.

The strap, and the artists

For decades the Speedy changed little. Harper's Bazaar credits a collaboration with the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami in the early 2000s with a Speedy revival: his candy-colored Multicolore Monogram, and versions printed with cherries and cherry blossoms, became the bag of the most photographed women of the decade. The magazine reports that Paris Hilton's Louis Vuitton collection was among the things stolen in the 2008 'Bling Ring' burglaries. Stephen Sprouse covered the Speedy in graffiti in 2001 and again in 2009, and Yayoi Kusama later added her polka dots.

In 2011 Louis Vuitton released the most practical version yet: the Speedy Bandouliere, offered in four sizes and four classic materials, with an adjustable, detachable shoulder strap and a two-way zip. It can be worn crossbody, carried by the top handles or held in the crook of the elbow. Harper's Bazaar notes that a new strap can also be attached to a vintage Speedy through the D-rings at the base of the handles. One dealer adds that the quickest way to tell a Bandouliere from a plain Speedy is the extra strip of leather trim running up each side.

In 2015, according to the same dealer, Louis Vuitton updated the Monogram, Damier Ebene and Damier Azur Speedy for modern use, adding among other things an interior zipped pocket and different stitching at the handle base. Today the Bandouliere comes in 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 sizes, plus a Nano Speedy, and in materials from Monogram and Damier canvas to embossed Monogram Empreinte leather.

The Giant Monogram version

This entry is a Speedy Bandouliere 25 printed with an oversized Monogram. Louis Vuitton introduced its Monogram Giant pattern as a summer capsule in spring 2019. A handbag blog reported on April 2, 2019, that the collection put the house's classic flowers and initials at a much larger scale in bright color combinations, and that the Speedy in that capsule was a Bandouliere 30 retailing for $1,910. A later Pre-Fall 2019 capsule brought the Giant print back in the original brown alongside Monogram Reverse.

The Giant print has since returned on other Speedy sizes. The example tracked on this page, listed for sale in October 2026, is described by its seller as a Speedy 25 in canvas colored multicolor black, white and orange, measuring 25 by 19 by 14.5 centimeters, sold with its lock, key and long shoulder strap, in excellent condition with light rubbing at the corners and scratches to the hardware. FLOAT could not find a Louis Vuitton page that names the season of this colorway, so the listing's description is reported here as the seller's.

Whatever the print, the construction is the same. The classic Monogram Speedy is made from a single piece of canvas wrapped around the body, which is why the Monogram appears upside down on one side. Harper's Bazaar calls this one of the markers to check when telling a real bag from a counterfeit.

How to identify one

Louis Vuitton's current specification for the Monogram Speedy Bandouliere 25 lists coated canvas, natural cowhide trim, textile lining, gold-color hardware, a double zip, a padlock and an inside flat pocket. The strap is removable and adjustable, with a drop of 18.3 to 21.7 inches, and the bag weighs about 0.5 kilograms. It is made in France, Spain or Italy, or in the United States from imported materials.

The natural cowhide trim is vegetable-tanned and untreated, and Louis Vuitton warns that it is sensitive to scratches and will acquire a patina over time. Dealers describe that darkening, from pale tan to deep brown, as one sign of an original bag. A Speedy bought new in store comes with a lock and key, a habit inherited from the Keepall.

Prices have moved with the brand. A reviewer who bought a Monogram Speedy Bandouliere 25 in London in January 2019 paid 950 British pounds before a tax refund, against 720 pounds for the strapless Speedy 25. On October 1, 2026, Louis Vuitton's US site listed the Monogram version at $1,980, while a pre-owned Giant Monogram example was offered at $2,800.

The numbers

Dimensions

9.8 x 7.5 x 5.9 inches (L x H x W), about 25 x 19 x 15 cm

Material

Coated canvas (Monogram on the classic version; oversized Giant Monogram on this entry), natural cowhide trim, textile lining

Hardware

Gold-color hardware, double zip, padlock with key

Strap

Removable, adjustable; drop 18.3 to 21.7 inches

Weight

About 0.5 kg

Made in

France, Spain or Italy, or the US from imported materials

Production quantity

Not published

Timeline

1. 1854

   Louis Vuitton opens his first store at 4 Rue Neuve-des-Capucines in Paris.

2. 1896

   Georges Vuitton creates the Monogram canvas, with the initials LV, in tribute to his father.

3. 1930

   The Speedy is launched as the Express, a 30 cm carry-on designed by Gaston-Louis Vuitton.

4. 1959

   Louis Vuitton reworks the Speedy in flexible Monogram canvas and turns it into a handbag.

5. 1965

   Audrey Hepburn is photographed at Heathrow with a Speedy 25; Harper's Bazaar dates her request for the smaller size to this year, though other sources say 1959 or simply the 1960s.

6. 1967

   Hepburn carries her Speedy 25 to lunch in Paris with a Givenchy trouser suit.

7. 2001

   Stephen Sprouse covers the Speedy in graffiti; he does so again in 2009.

8. 2008

   Paris Hilton's Louis Vuitton collection is reportedly taken in the 'Bling Ring' burglaries.

9. 2011

   The Speedy Bandouliere is introduced, with a detachable shoulder strap and two-way zip, in four sizes.

10. 2015

    The Monogram, Damier Ebene and Damier Azur Speedy are updated with an interior zipped pocket and new handle-base stitching, according to one dealer.

11. Jan 2019

    A reviewer buys a Monogram Speedy Bandouliere 25 in London for 950 pounds before tax refund.

12. Apr 2, 2019

    The Monogram Giant summer capsule is reported, with a Giant Speedy Bandouliere 30 at $1,910.

13. 2023

    Pharrell Williams's debut menswear collection reimagines the Speedy in bright colors; Rihanna fronts his first campaign.

14. 2026

    Louis Vuitton marks the Monogram's 130th anniversary with three Speedy capsule collections: Monogram Origine, VVN and Time Trunk.

15. Oct 1, 2026

    The Monogram Speedy Bandouliere 25 lists at $1,980 in the US; a pre-owned Giant Monogram example is offered at $2,800.

The world in 2011

• Mar 11, 2011

  A magnitude 9.1 earthquake and tsunami strike eastern Japan, killing more than 19,000 people.

• Apr 29, 2011

  An estimated two billion people watch Prince William marry Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey.

• May 1, 2011

  President Barack Obama announces that Osama bin Laden has been killed in Pakistan.

• Jul 9, 2011

  South Sudan becomes independent from Sudan.

• Jul 21, 2011

  Space Shuttle Atlantis lands, ending NASA's Space Shuttle program.

• Sep 17, 2011

  Occupy Wall Street protests begin in New York.

Price record

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 Speedy Bandouliere 25 is number 62 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 (44 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The Speedy began life in 1930 as the 'Express,' named for the fast travel of its day.
• Because the classic Speedy body is one continuous piece of canvas, the Monogram runs upside down on one side.
• The number in a Speedy's name is its width in centimeters.
• A shoulder strap can be clipped onto an older, strapless Speedy through the D-rings at the base of its handles.
• Audrey Hepburn was photographed in the 1980s carrying two Speedy 25s at the same time.
• The Monogram canvas was too stiff for soft bags until Claude-Louis Vuitton developed a more flexible coating in the late 1950s.