Nothing was too good for the Maharaja of Behar. His journeys on the Orient Express were an endless spectacle that dazzled the European elites, and his outrageous demands are the stuff of railway legend. Whether he was headed for the Pera Palace hotel or an international conference in London, the Maharaja brought his full retinue aboard with him. Before the journey began, he had his entire carriage redecorated in the purest Indian style to make them all feel at home, and he fuelled the wildest speculation by insisting that the curtains remain closed throughout the journey.

Pauline Moynat, a visionary and the only woman trunk-maker in history, founded Moynat in 1849, and soon made the house the most Parisian of the French leather goods and trunk makers of her time.Founded at the time of the Continue reading →