In general, I’m an enormous fan of everyday objects turned into art objects. Celebrating the beauty in everyday, functional things is a worthwhile pursuit; the design equivalent to “stopping to smell the roses.” And perhaps if we begin to blur the line between beautiful things and functional things, we would end up with more things that are BOTH beautiful and functional, and then we all win. Taking pleasure in the everyday is nothing to sneeze at, after all.

Chanel’s contribution to this idea is their Spring/Summer 2009 Essential Handbag. Modeled after the iconic shopping bags of their 31, Rue Cambon flagship location in Paris, the bags are produced in smooth calfskin in Chanel’s signature palette of black, white and pale pink. They come in three sizes – small for $1525, which is the only of the three available pale pink, medium for $2625, and large in $2995. From the information that we received from Chanel, it’s unclear whether the small is also available in white and black – if you’re interested, a call to your local boutique may be warranted.
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