Chanel Handbags

After seeing a few shots from Chanel Cruise 2010, I couldn’t resist sharing some of the highlights with all of you PurseBloggers out there. This has to be one of the most strikingly beautiful runway shows I’ve ever seen, from the Venice Lido boardwalk setting to the 1920s throwback clothes. Karl Lagerfeld said that he chose this particular setting to debut this collection because Coco Chanel was a long-time fan of this particular Italian beach. Coco made yearly visits to this beach during the 1920s, making it particularly appropriate for this set of retro-glam resort wear and beautiful evening dresses. The boardwalk is only steps from the sea, the show began at sunset, and I’ve never found myself wanting to attend any fashion show so much in my entire life.

Click here to see hilights from Chanel Cruise 2009

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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Karl “Krazypants” Lagerfeld is at it again. He’s made a bike, which we covered, as well as other sporting equipment like skis. If Krazypants can find a way to put a Chanel logo on something that is already expensive and then charge more for it, he’s all over it. Particularly if it can be done in a wacky, eccentric way that makes everyone go “…waaaah?” And that’s the case with the all-new-for-spring Chanel Segway. It’s got an enormous classic flap stuck on the front of it like a basket on an old-fashioned bicycle and Chanel’s quilted caviar leather covering the wheel wells. I don’t even know what else could be said about this…thing. Except that Krazy Karl is the only person I could ever see riding it, except for maybe Victoria Beckham. And maybe her kids behind her, on mini ones. No price information was given, but their bicycle from several seasons ago was several thousand dollars, and this thing has a motor, so…draw your own conclusions.

Image courtesy of Chanel via NYMag.com

Oh, Karl Lagerfeld. He’s crazypants. He’s also the creative force behind Chanel, although I’m sure you all were aware of that. As a result, all of the creative elements of Chanel’s branding are immensely, luxuriously over the top in ways that few other brands can touch (although Louis Vuitton also does an admirable job with Marc Jacobs at the helm), with advertising campaigns and catalogues often photographed by Lagerfeld himself. He is indeed the man behind the camera for Chanel’s Spring/Summer 2009 Accessories Catalogue, but to get a first look at the catalogue and find out more about Krazy Karl’s concept for the shoot, you’ll have to make the jump.

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This bespoke chair from Suzan Fellman would be one of the greatest artistic pieces for your home. Vlad and I have a little more modern vibe going on in our house and I would plop this chair down to be the ultimate conversation piece. There are of course a few problems that I would run into. Price is the biggest one followed by keeping it clean. But would this not be amazing? This Chanel Bespoke Silk Scarf Chair is designed with vintage silk scarves on a sleek slipper chair. The lucite legs are the perfect modern finish. Each chair is individually designed to the three scarves that make it up, so all the chairs will vary. But the Chanel chair pictured is the ideal chair for a handbag loving fashionista. Dimensions vary but are about 27″D, 32″H, seat height 12″, and seat area approximately 20″ square. Order through Vivre for $6,400.

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Timeless, classic, elegant, recognizable. All of these words describe the house of Chanel. The Chanel Classic Flap bag has become synonymous and iconic to Chanel. Every woman years to have a Classic Flap in her collection. Some collectors have exorbitant amount of Flap bags. And while the Classic Flap’s beauty speaks for itself, and the style needs no introduction, there are ways that the bag can be dressed up even further.

Bypassing merely being an exotic skin bag, the Chanel Classic Flap in Alligator is embroidered with pearls by La Maison Lesage. This is the ultimate luxury when it comes to the Chanel Classic Flap Bag. There is not much else to say; the timeless style dresses up with pearl embroidery detail on top of luscious alligator skin. This bag is from the Chanel Cruise 2008/2009. Inquire further through Chanel about purchasing this item, 800-550-0005. Price of this beautiful collectors piece is $34,500.

Note: We also broke the story of the Chanel Diamond Forever Classic Bag, which costs a whopping $261,000!

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NOTE: We are double and triple checking this info. Seems it could be false. I will keep you posted!

Classic Chanel Large Flap Bag, not the Maxi or discontinued XL Jumbo Flap

Chanel is a brand that continues to have success with their classics. One of the classic handbags that was highly sought after was discontinued years ago, the Chanel Classic XL Jumbo Flap. And many Chanel lovers wanted this iconic bag back. Chanel has answered by having the re-release of the Classic Chanel XL Jumbo flap which will make a come back early 2009. The bag will be renamed the Chanel Maxi Bag and will be available in many colors, in both lambskin and caviar leather. While there are no pictures yet, this bag is sure to create a huge buzz and have fashionistas world-wide waiting to get their hands on the re-release. Read more on the thread in the Purse Forum.

When I reported on the $3,500 Hermes bike two weeks ago, I had the feeling that we had not reached the pinnacle in cyclist decadence just yet. Karl Lagerfeld to the rescue! This Limited Edition Chanel Bike is the ultimate in two-wheeled novelty. With only 50 made and less than 20 available in the US, this creation retailed for $17,000, with reseller markups hitting $28,000 already.

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English model Agyness Deyn made an appearance at the private party at the Chanel Boutique Dover Street Market dressed from head to toe in Chanel. The supermodel was wearing the latest and greatest from the house, including the Chanel Anklet in Red (which she wore on her arm) and the limited edition Chanel Union Jack quilted bag (£835).

I am typically on top of celebrity gossip, but for the life of me I have no idea, nor do I care, who Phoebe Price is. What I do know is that this red head was denied access to a Chanel Robertson Blvd. party. And this nobody was so pissed off, she went home to get the invite and prove to the PR girls at the door that she was on the list. Only to be denied again. So what did she do then? Grab her Jacoby & Meyers lawyers and held a public press conference outside of the Chanel store. She let Chanel know that if the PR girl in question was not fired and if she was not issued a formal apology by Chanel, she would sue. Phoebe has dragged this out, going on to talk to any paparazzi near her letting them know that if this is not settled she definitely will file charges so that no other celebrity has to be put through this again. If you ask me, I would call this red head a total drama queen. There has not been word yet if Price was actually on the list, if the PR girl was fired, or why I was not invited to the party. What I do know is that Phoebe Price is going to make this as big of a deal as she can for as long as she can. It will be interesting to see how it pans out.

More at TMZ.