Isabel Marant Melly Embroidered Bag, $1235. Isabel Marant Malou Emebellished Suede Clutch, $1080. Both via Net-a-Porter.
Watch out, I’m about to commit fashion blasphemy: I find Isabel Marant a bit tedious. I like her clothing on an aesthetic level, of course. There’s a reason that every supermodel and editor this side of Berlin is photographed wearing Marant almost constantly; her work is impeccable. But between her revulsion over women with breasts and her tone-deaf appropriation of the prints of native cultures that the Western world has almost entirely obliterated, she seems hell-bent on inhabiting every negative French stereotype that comes to mind.
That being said, I would wear the beads off of that burgundy bag up there. The Isabel Marant Malou Embellished Suede Clutch. Yep, and I’d hate myself a little bit for it. Why do people who annoy me have to make such pretty things sometimes?
It still strikes me as odd that a designer known for her enduring French-ness decided to take her Fall 2011 work in a direction that’s clearly based on Native America, but hey, maybe she watched Dances with Wolves and got all inspired or something. From my tone by itself, I think you guys can pretty clearly read my internal confusion on these bags. On the one hand, I’ve grown tired of fashion fawning over someone who comes across as at least a little bit vapid. On the other hand, I really dig these bags and they’re not terribly priced, another thing for which Marant is known.
I’m so conflicted, you guys. Buy through Net-a-Porter for $1235 and $1080, respectively.
