The great fashion designer Etienne Aigner was born in Hungary in 1904. More than half a century ago he presented his first handbag collection in New York – and caused a major sensation.

The reason that people in 1950 were so excited about Aigner’s exclusive leather creations was that ever since the invention of the “steamer trunk” for the legendary transatlantic liners or the Orient Express, there had been no real innovations in travel luggage.

A few years later Etienne Aigner met Heiner H. Rankl, a businessman with a keen feel for the future and an equally strong sense of tradition – and the cult brand of AIGNER was born. That was in 1965, in Munich.

At that time Munich was the best place to found a new, leading German fashion brand. In the mid 60s and 70s Munich was full of excitement: there was a euphoric belief in progress, and the future held no threat. Certainly not in Munich, a city so close to Italy that has always been more in tune with the “dolce vita” than anywhere else in Germany. At that time nobody needed to invent an attitude because everyone had a natural feel for the lightness of life: Flower Power! Parties! Love! Discos! The Jet Set!

The design of the 60s and 70s reflected this great freedom. It was young, streamlined and futuristic, with an emphasis on the colour orange.

It was that freedom, the special feel of that time, which inspired the young brand AIGNER. Wild horses were best suited to those wild years with their wild parties. The AIGNER Racing Days, an event organized by the prestige brand just outside Munich, soon became a firm fixture in a society still unaccustomed to such events.

AIGNER gave its products a rural, countrystyle feel. There was always a sense of the racecourse, a feeling of being by the fireside. A phenomenon that can still be felt today.