I much preferred the zippy MB bags of old... I still use them for all sorts of things whereas the current bags usually are given away or tossed completely. I even committed the crime on my last CW trip of leaving my bag on the aircraft. The contents are becoming quite useless as well. I've gotten to plundering my father's F bags, and putting together my own personalized inflight amenity bags (using the old F Anna boxes with the old airplane). I take out the useless stuff from the F bags (those puffy foot and smelly body things, for example) and add my own stuff (real toothpaste and deoderant in travel size, proper toothbrush, cologne etc.) and have a perfectly good little BAg of my own.

The Saxon hotel in Joburg uses MB for all their toilettery products... first place I ever noticed it outside of London. Maybe because it has British owners.

As for LV... with all the knock-offs and US university girls in sweat pants and t-shirts strutting around with $1000 LV bags, I fail to see how anyone can still see them as exclusive. They've even become quite ordinary actually at times.