There’s no metallic like a dark metallic. Light silver and gold can look cheap and plasticky even on the best leather, but when shades of dark bronze and gunmetal are involved, the end result is almost always incredibly chic. Embossed snakeskin tends to look tacky when combined with metallics in particular, but the Whiting & Davis Snake-Embossed Leather and Metal Mesh Clutch pulls off the look with considerable style.
I love to see designers using their brands for a good cause. Breast cancer affects everyone in one way or another and having designers get involved is a great way to help spread awareness and support to help fight this horrible disease. Kooba will be giving away a Kooba bag to one person who donates … Read more
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If you’re a longtime reader of this blog, you may or may not remember (and if you don’t, I certainly don’t blame you) that I have never been an overwhelming fan of Derek Lam’s handbags. Lam’s clothes tend to be great and wearable, but when it comes time for accessories, his thing has never been my thing, so to speak. Finally, though, I’ve found a bag of his that I like without reservation or qualification: the Derek Lam Eiko Shoulder Bag.
Minimalism gets boring quickly when combined with neutral, noncommittal shades of beige and cream, but Lam’s decision to turn up the volume with an in-your-face shade of orange-red shows just how statement-making and bold the trend can be. In some ways, this bag reminds me a lot of Raf Simmons’ Jil Sander Spring 2011 collection: a familiar shape made modern by bright, saturated color.
With the introduction of bags like the Proenza Schouler PS1 and Mulberry Alexa, the fashion world has seen an influx in schoolbag-inspired satchels for both men and women. Not only do those bags provide a great deal of functionality because of their size and how they’re traditionally carried, but the look is one of comforting familiarity. Not everyone took a bag like the Aubin & Wills Sandbanks Leather Satchel to school as a kid, but we all get the reference.
Ok all, it is true, I am oddly drawn to crazy bags. As much as reviewing and dissecting bags everyday for five years has given me a discerning eye, I always remember that a handbag is an accessory and it is meant to add to your outfit. For that reason, I find myself liking certain ostentatious and funky bags much more often than not. When it comes down to it, I must love a bag before I buy it – because my handbag budget is not flowing from an never-ending geyser of gold.
The coveted and now classic Mulberry Alexa has been reinterpreted with quilted denim and a black and pink tie-dye pattern. Question is, is this rendition too crazy and tacky or is the right amount of spunk and fun?
For one reason or another, some designers go absolutely bonkers when it comes time to decorate a simple little box clutch. I’m not sure if it’s because the small proportion lends itself more easily to making big ideas wearable or if the structured feel of the bags makes them easier to decorate intricately, but it seems as though Corto Moltedo Spring 2011 takes note of both of those advantages.
I took the liberty of using the spider clutch as a feature because Halloween is quickly approaching and it’s my favorite holiday, but the motifs you’ll find in this collection are as varied as a summer day is long. From a pale, modernist American flag to sunny painted python to sober forged metal leaves, relative newcomer Moltedo offers a little something for everyone. Everyone who likes a crazy clutch, that is.
I can hardly even bring myself to give you a proper review of this bag. I mean, look at the name: the Marc by Marc Jacobs Jacobs He’s Not Dead, He’s Just Breakdancing Winnie Bag. That is the full name, what a mouthful! Who at MbMJ even thought of this ridiculously long name? Maybe the thought came because the design is a bit lackluster and the absurdly gold/neon chain is distracting.
Then again, maybe the obscenely long name makes perfect sense for the confusion this bag brings.
In the past, Italian luxury brand Valextra might have seemed a bit boring to many shoppers (and it probably still does to some). The company’s emphasis on fine leathers and extremely simple lines has always appealed to a very specific customer, particularly in light of the brand’s sometimes astonishingly high prices. With the fashion world’s newfound embrace of minimalism (at least for now), though, Valextra’s contributions to the handbag conversation seem more important than ever, which is why we bring you a preview of Valextra Spring 2011.
Some of these bags will look familiar, particularly the unchanged iterations of the popular Babila tote, but the unfamiliar pieces like the satchel at top and its blue jean leather counterpart stand out above and beyond their collection counterparts. If you’ve never seen Valextra’s work in person, I highly recommend doing so – the brand’s precision work is pristine, and for a structured bag, it’s hard to do much better than one of Valextra’s products. Skip the Babila, go for the satchel.
For one reason or another, I just can’t get behind Longchamp‘s leather bags over the past few seasons, and sadly, Spring 2011 continues that trend. The pieces go from too mundane to overworked quickly, with only a seafoam python shoulder clutch holding any kind of middle ground between the two extremes.
Luckily for Longchamp, the non-leather patterned bags go a long way toward bailing out this collection. They have the easy French femininity that many of the other pieces lack, and the oversized scale of the flower print on the totes and suitcase ensures that they maintain a bit of modernity.
French accessories designer Jerome Dreyfuss may have one of my favorite contemporary handbag companies on the face of the planet, and I only wish that his accessories were more available in the US. Seeing the simultaneously attention-getting and useable bags that Dreyfuss has created for Spring 2011 only makes wish it even more fervently.
I question the logic behind a couple of these designs – the hanging, fringe-y pocket of a perfectly wonderful leopard shoulder bag, for example – but mostly, Dreyfuss creates things that are exceptionally well-suited for young urban women with eclectic tastes. As always, his work with exotics (and python in particular) shines in this collection, but even the regular leather begs have enough personality to stand on their own with any casual outfit.
All it takes is one cruise through Roger Vivier‘s website to know that the company highly regards the use of wit and whimsy in its shoes and bags, and its Spring 2011 handbag collection follows that path into very literal territory. Whether you enjoy the results or not probably depends heavily on how you feel about your luxury goods having a sense of humor.
For most of these pieces, I find great pleasure in looking at them, and would probably enjoy carrying them every now and then, but their prices will likely be too high to justify buying a bug-covered clutch or a bag that plays home to a school of one-dimensional fish. They’re all cute ideas, but for that kind of silliness, I’ll look to the much less expensive whimsy of Kate Spade.
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