Louis Vuitton has opened its first European airport store at Heathrow Terminal 5.

The 301 sq.m store is dedicated to Louis Vuitton’s travel heritage and welcomes the modern explorer to journey through an entirely new retail concept.

With imminent journeys come a unique frame of mind; a feeling of excitement and the surprise of discovery, not only of foreign faraway lands but long before take-off, a retail destination which offers an engaging shopping experience.

The store’s opening coincides with the arrival of Louis Vuitton’s Cruise 2015 collection, which was presented in Monaco, at Place du Palais by Nicolas Ghesquiere.

Aquatic motifs abound, from cut out ‘portholes’ on navy sweaters to maritime flares to the rich embroideries depicting coral branches, this is a collection that calls to mind the Cote d’Azur, perfectly in tune with the house’s legendary roots in the Art of Travel.

Louis Vuitton has long anticipated the needs of the modern traveller.

The Louis Vuitton family were avid followers of technological advances in the world of aviation, inspired by the ground-breaking achievements of pioneering pilots such as the Brazilian Alberto Santos-Dumont, ‘the conqueror of the air,’ Louis Bleriot, and the Wright brothers in the dawn of the 20th Century.

By 1910, the year when Pierre Vuitton, the great grandson of founder Louis created airplane models (named Vuitton I and Vuitton II) the house’s catalogue of trunks and leather goods listed the ultra-light, unsinkable and watertight “Aero-trunks” for hot air balloons.

In the years since then, Louis Vuitton and the succeeding generations have invented trunks and luggage – from check-in to carry-on, and always combining functionality with luxury – anticipating the needs of the modern traveller.