Mulberry Handbags and Purses

Images via Vogue.com

Unfortunate Lana Del Rey bag aside, Mulberry sent what seemed like dozens of fun, mostly awesome handbags down its runway for Mulberry Fall 2012 over the weekend in London. Not everything worked perfectly (I’m looking at you, trompe l’oeil flaps and buckles), but there were so many options available that it seems as though everyone should be able to find a covetable piece within this collection.

My vote goes to the bright orange (Pantone was right!) calf hair Alexa, but perhaps you’re more in the mood for a Mulberry buckle turned slyly into a turtle? A smart boucle shoulder bag? A leather satchel with a fur gusset? Enamel studding of both the tonal and non-tonal variety? Whatever you want, Mulberry has it, and most of it is pretty damn lust-worthy. When a collection features this many different ideas, that’s saying something.

We discussed one Miss Lana Del Rey over at Bag That Style recently, but the advent of the Mulberry Del Rey Bag during London Fashion Week and Del Rey’s front row seating at the handbag powerhouse’s show over the weekend give us renewed opportunity for me to air my secret shame. (And of course, for us to discuss the bag and its particulars.)

If you follow pop culture or spend too much time on the Internet, you’re probably aware of how shameful it is to enjoy Lana Del Rey and her various crass marketing schemes. Listen to her album; it is truly stupid. Sadly, I know that because I listen to it. A lot. I just make sure that no one sees it pop up on my phone’s screen when I’m listening to it in public; I’m not sure if I could take the embarrassment. Similarly, I’m not sure if I could bring myself to plunk down $1250+ on a handbag that bares Del Rey’s name unless it was absolutely gorgeous, gorgeous enough to eclipse the Del Rey Shame, and this one isn’t. (Don’t worry, we have more pictures after the jump.)

Images via Mulberry

Spring ads are always my personal favorite, and the newly released Mulberry Spring 2012 campaign is a perfect illustration of why. If you don’t look at these photos and feel a fierce need for a floppy straw hat and a lobster roll (in addition to a new bag, of course), then you and I can’t be friends. What we have here is a bright, shining beacon of spring fashion hopefulness.

The ads, lensed by Tim Walker and featuring Frida Gustavsson and Lindsey Wixson on England’s Brighton Beach, are full of optimism and wonderment in the form of whimsically oversized ice cream cones and playful beachside shenanigans. Naturally, bags take a central role in all of the fun, with the seafoam and black snakeskin option standing out as the leader of the pack. The rest of the images can be found after the jump.

Mulberry Small Bayswater, $1100 via Net-a-Porter

Ever since the launch of the Alexa, Mulberry has been on a roll. With the company’s penchant for punched-up basics that don’t break the bank quite as badly as some of the similarly covetable handbags on the market, Mulberry has found themselves uniquely well-positioned with a group of young, stylish, upwardly mobile customers that can’t get enough of their bags.

And what do young, stylish, upwardly mobile customers want lately? Crossbodies. Enter the Mulberry Small Bayswater, a slightly more diminutive version of the Mulberry classic that offers a carrying option that no other Bayswater has included thus far.

Mulberry Postman’s Lock Satchel, $1000 via Net-a-Porter

To me, the Kelly shape – a simple, arm-carried bag with a front flap closure and a top handle – is a classic shape that doesn’t really belong to Hermes so much as it belongs to handbag design in general. Much like the Louis Vuitton Speedy, the shape has reached such a classic level that attributing it to only one company no longer seems fair. And when the reinterpretations yield bags as different from the original as the Mulberry Postman’s Lock Satchel, I think it’s easy to see why I take that opinion.

Mulberry Travel Adapter, $230 via Net-a-Porter

Luxury travel accessories usually fall into two categories: Pretty things that no one actually uses or needs and things that are pretty while also being surprisingly useful. The Mulberry Travel Adapter, complete with its bright pink leather carrying case, is one of the few that fits firmly in the latter designation.

For anyone left who doesn’t know this, American plugs don’t work in foreign outlets and vice versa, and some foreign plugs don’t work in other foreign outlets. To make your flat iron work everywhere on the globe, it’s necessary to take a converter with you when travelling overseas, because god knows you don’t want a frizzy mane while on vacay. Now that Mulberry has stepped up to the plate, you can ensure electrical compatibility in chic pink leather.

After I wrote the title for this post, I realized that I am an over-user of the word chic. Still, though, many times it seems like a fitting word for many different items, and the Mulberry Evelina deserves to be called chic. In the past, I’ve found many Mulberry bags to be a tad masculine, and the Evelina’s name matches the silhouette. A touch of femininity with a ton of usability makes me love this Mulberry bag.

Images via Vogue.com

Although Mulberry has brokered its handbag popularity into extraordinary success above and beyond the world of leather goods, the British brand always remembers on which side its bread is buttered: accessories. Mulberry never fails to include lots of handbag goodies in its runway shows for those of us who are more interested in what the models are carrying than what they’re wearing, and Mulberry Spring 2012 included bags of nearly every type imaginably.

There were quirky-girly evening bags with sparkly peace sings (the brand has been very successful with the hippie chic look, so I don’t blame them for running with it), the larger leather classics that we know and love in yellow patent that managed to be simultaneously soft and bright, and a couple of new takes on Mulberry’s most successful shape, the crossbody satchel. My favorite looks were the ones that mixed textures and exotics, but if you prefer your bags neutral, the collection included a surprising amount of tan and beige leather. A full gallery, after the jump.