November 2010 - PurseBlog

The Wayuu Taya Foundation lets you look chic and help indigenous people

Apr 30, 2014Nov 30, 2010 by Amanda Mull

Beyond the aesthetic issues I have with so-called “ethnic” or “tribal” fashion, I also have ethical problems with the trend. Fashion tends to take visual cues from a whole spectrum of influences without always stopping to think what kind of attitudes or problems it may be tacitly endorsing by glorifying a particular look, and ripping off indigenously sourced materials and patterns without providing any kind of benefit to the people who created them or the culture from which they come is among the least attractive practices in modern fashion.

Fetishizing and caricaturizing cultures that have been blighted by Western influences is offensive; instead, indigenous societies deserve respect and understanding. Luckily, people like the Wayuu Taya Foundation are working to bring the trends and the cultures that produced them together in order to sate fashionable desires as well as enrich the groups whose lives have inspired the trends.

Crochet is in for spring, so says Stella McCartney

Nov 30, 2010 by Amanda Mull

The Stella McCartney Falabella Tote first gained favor over a year ago when celebrities as varied as Rihanna and Kate Hudson began sporting the simple, biker-chic faux leather bag with every kind of outfit you could imagine. Many variations on the Falabella theme have followed, and now that we’re on (by my count) the third season rotation of these chain-trimmed purses, one has to wonder when McCartney will run out of ideas.

I can’t tell the future, but unfortunately, inspiration didn’t run out before someone suggested making a crochet version of the bag, which you can see at left. Or, come to think of it, maybe it did, because this iteration isn’t exactly inspired.

Kooba helps make backpacks cool again

May 9, 2011Nov 29, 2010 by Amanda Mull

Depending on who you are, backpacks might be kind of a tough sell. They’re purposefully boyish and perhaps a bit infantilizing, but if you’ve got an edgy personal style and lots of confidence, they can look utilitarian-chic in all the right ways. Having a backpack option as luxe as the Kooba Griffin Drawstring Tote absolutely makes pulling off the look much easier.

Kooba seems to be try to avoid the “backpack” stigma by not using that word to describe this bag, but there’s no getting around exactly what we see in this photo. It’s a backpack, and there’s nothing wrong with that, particularly when you’re spending the day shopping or strolling and you don’t want to have to deal with a regular purse on your arm.

Judith Leiber explores crystal and exotics (shocker!) for Spring 2011

Nov 29, 2010Nov 29, 2010 by Amanda Mull

Some designers try to go in eight directions at once, but generally, Judith Leiber only has one goal, and that’s to create the sparkliest, shiniest collection of evening bags known to man. The company once again took on that task for Spring 2011, but it also tried its hand at the occasional exotic skin and day bag, standard Leiber flourishes of which not everyone is aware. And other than one exquisite white lizard clutch, I really wish Leiber had stuck with its signature crystals.

The python bags aren’t bad, per se, but they don’t have nearly the level of intricacy or perfection that one might normally expect from the company that made its name bedazzling everything from ducks to dachshunds. They’re simply average, whereas the rest of the collection features the kind of extraordinary detail work that we’ve come to expect from Judith Leiber. Although one nontraditional offering from Spring 2011 does impress: a tie-dyed leather bow clutch that might be the most effective use of the coloring technique that I’ve ever seen on a bag.

Five reasons to skip the stores and do your Black Friday shopping online

Nov 25, 2010Nov 25, 2010 by Amanda Mull

Not many people escape from their youth without working retail of some sort or another, and as I’ve mentioned before, I was not one of the lucky few. In college, I worked at Best Buy for several years, including three Black Friday extravaganzas the likes of which most people have never experienced from the other side of the cash register.

I realize that there’s a bit of irony in the girl who told you how to successfully queue for Lanvin telling you to stay the heck away from the lines this week, but Black Friday is a whole ‘nother kettle of fish entirely. Because of my history of service to the consumer hordes, my post-Thanksgiving shopping advice could probably go on ad nauseum, but it mostly boils down to this: the Internet is your friend, and those lines already forming outside of Target are not. In case you needed more convincing, I’ve got five reasons to stay home and shop online.

Lanvin makes the perfect holiday party bag

Jan 4, 2011Nov 24, 2010 by Amanda Mull

Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the US and the ceremonious eating of the turkey has become an unofficial start to the Christmas season (no matter what stores wanted us to believe by putting up their decorations weeks ago, I’m still going with Thanksgiving), now’s a great time to discuss holiday wardrobe. Red, green and metallics of almost any variety are usually what people tend to wear to holiday parties, and although it’s great to be festive, incorporating those colors too heavily makes you look like just another Christmas decoration. Do you want to look like someone mistakenly draped you in tinsel? No, you don’t.

My advice would be to dress how you would to a normal cocktail occasion but incorporate one accessory in a season-appropriate color, and if I had an unlimited budget, the Lanvin Jeweled Nyota Shoulder Bag would be my red bag of choice for this year’s party rounds and beyond.

Nancy Gonzalez Spring 2011: Just what we’ve come to expect from the crocodile diva

Nov 24, 2010Nov 24, 2010 by Amanda Mull

At this point, it might be entirely useless to try to review Nancy Gonzalez’s Spring 2011 handbags, or any set of handbags from the Colombian accessories maven. She does one thing (exotics), and does it extremely well. You’ll find no trend-chasing or gimmicks within this line, just piece after piece of luxurious exotic leather formed into handbags of every size, shape and color imaginable.

Spring 2011’s pieces run the gamut from staid, perfect neutrals to bold brights to glam metallics and everything in between, including latice work and weaving on some of the collection’s more casual pieces. All of this stuff is vintage Nancy Gonzalez, and although her collections may not change a great deal from season to season, there’s something almost comforting about her consistency. And if you’ve never inspected one of Gonzalez’s bags in person, I highly recommend it; they’re among the best-planned designs on the market, which is just another reason to love what she does.

Diane Von Furstenberg makes world’s first attractive laptop case

Nov 14, 2013Nov 24, 2010 by Amanda Mull

Ok, you’re right, that’s an exaggeration. Attractive laptop cases have graced this mortal coil in the past, just not often. And somehow, increasing a laptop case’s price point doesn’t generally increase its attractiveness; I’ve seen just as many ugly designer cases as non-designer ones.

The Diane Von Furstenberg Mariela Laptop Case, however, manages to buck the trend and make an attractive, maybe even pretty, sleeve to cover your MacBook Pro. Can I get this print in a big summer tote bag too?

Jimmy Choo perforates their Zulu Clutch

Nov 23, 2010 by Megs Mahoney Dusil

I fell in love with the easy and simple Jimmy Choo Zulu Clutch a while back. The pouch shape is nothing to write home about, but it is something that grabbed my attention. I realized that I spent so much time straying from buying a pouch bag that I didn’t own one. But I wanted one. So I bought a black version of this Jimmy Choo clutch and have constantly received compliments on it. Sometimes simplicity is truly the answer.

Just in, the Jimmy Choo Perforated Zulu Clutch is the same bag in three color options with a perforated leather finish.

Marc Jacobs gets shiny without the aid of patent leather

Nov 23, 2010 by Amanda Mull

By now, most of you have probably seen some version of the Marc Jacobs Coated Leather MJ Satchel in person, and if you have, you know exactly what I mean when I say that it doesn’t remind me of any designer back I’ve seen in the last few years, and maybe ever. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing, but I always appreciate innovation.

The most striking thing about this bag when you see it in person is how perfectly smooth the leather is; in fact, I didn’t really believe it was leather when I first picked up one of these. But it is, just super slick and without any sign of grain or natural imperfection. Whether or not you’ll like that depends on your personal style, I suppose. Personally, I find this bag and the materials used to make it absolutely fascinating; I merely wish it came in a black and grey version.

Get ready for Rebecca Minkoff’s Black Friday sale!

May 9, 2011Nov 23, 2010 by Amanda Mull

Standing in line for Black Friday deals? Totally passÃ©. More and more online retailers are getting in on the fun, and this year, Rebecca Minkoff is going to be giving her loyal fans the opportunity to shop at a discount. Starting at the stroke of midnight Friday morning, head over RebeccaMinkoff.com to shop her Black … Read more

Google makes us wonder: can you solve fashion with math?

Nov 23, 2010Nov 23, 2010 by Amanda Mull

If you’ve visited the fashion-loving part of the internet at all in the past week, then you’ve undoubtedly heard of Google’s new fashion venture, Boutiques.com. As the name would indicate, the site’s intent is to gather fashion from around the web together in one easily shopable place that allows celebrities, designers, fashion people and anyone else who might have some spare time to create their own “boutique” that is tailored to their personal style and preferences.

Google is one of the most successful companies on the face of the planet, period, so I had high hopes that its nerds would come up with some sort of magic algorithm to recommend great things to me after I filled out the site’s length style questionnaire. But other than successfully banishing all brown from my results, the site’s recommendations were middling at best: my first round of options yielded items as seemingly random as a red silk Alexander McQueen gown, a pair of white tennis shoes and a $50 pleather purse. Not only are none of those options relevant to my shopping life, but the McQueen dress was the only thing I’d be caught anywhere near. Can Google really create an algorithm that replicates personal style?