Normal people have trunks for storing their goods. The fabulous have rooms for storing their trunks, says T. Anthony owner Michael Root. “Elton John is probably our best customer of all time,” he tells Threads. “He has more than 200 pieces of our luggage — he always buys the same black-and-tan trunk. Once I got a call from an architect that was working for Elton, building a home down in Atlanta. He needed to know an exact size of the suitcase Elton buys because they were building a room dedicated to his luggage.”
While T. Anthony, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, may be one of NYC’s most recognizable heritage brands, glitz-loving celebs like Gwyneth Paltrow, Lady Gaga (who was gifted a set of blue canvas trunks by the aforementioned “Tiny Dancer” singer) and shoe king Christian Louboutin (who favors the red canvas luggage, naturally) can’t keep their hands off the pricey goods.
“Christian [Louboutin] loves to buy this large 12-shoe trunk in red and give them as gifts to friends,” says Root.
Even Marilyn Monroe was a fan.
“We made the red canvas with a black trim especially for Marilyn Monroe,” says Root, who adds that the combo is now a T. Anthony signature. “She didn’t want her initials on it as she was divorcing one husband and he had yet to find out.”
The brand is known for its custom engraving, but Root, ever the proper Upper East Sider, says if “someone asked us to do something really inappropriate, we would refuse.”
Of course, there are exceptions.
“Carrie Fisher used to have her luggage engraved with ‘LSD,’ ” admits Root. “But this is back a long time ago.”