At times, it feels like the handbag and jewelry markets are slowly converging into one. Customers who like one type of high-dollar designer accessory are likely to be interested in others, and costume jewelry designers like Dannijo, Mawi and Shourouk have taken that opportunity to expand their reach into the handbag market with lines of metal-and-rhinestone-accented clutches and bags that combine the best decorative aspects of their jewels, with generally well-received results.
The jewelry-designing sisters behind Anndra Neen dipped its toes in the clutch waters not long ago, and the results were more than well-received; the little cage clutch that was the crowning achievement of the small bag line sold out so quickly when it became available at retailers that I felt like I was chasing it around the Internet in order to write a post about it. As Style.com reports, CR Fashion Book editor Carine Roitfeld was so smitten with the clutch that she had the designers make it in 18-karat gold for the LoveGold amfAR gala at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.
The clutch stayed with the sisters after the gala, and now they’ve turned it over to Sotheby’s for auction during the house’s Important Jewels auction on September 23 in New York. Right now, the estimated final price of the clutch, which required 20 hours of painstaking hand work, is in excess of $20,000. That’s less than plenty of Birkins, which is not bad when you consider that it’s a one-of-a-kind, handmade piece rendered in solid gold at a fashion legend’s request.
[Photos via Anndra Neen]
