When it comes to handbag shapes that are out of the realm of your traditional silhouette, one leads the pack. The ...

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Shelley Alvarado, a senior account executive and former Louis Vuitton employee from Los Angeles. It's been edited for length and clarity.

You couldn't escape Louis Vuitton's multicolored logo in the aughts. Paris, Jessica, and Nicole—the decades’ most emblematic mononyms—all wore the brand's colorful Speedy and Pochette ...