It appears to me that Katie Holmes (and her stylist no doubt) must have a magical ability to predict what’s destined to become a must-have, and whatever she carries gets instantaneous nods of approval from fashion editors all around (like this Khaite cashmere cardigan-bra combination).
In fact, Katie’s psychic abilities seem to be centred primarily around indie-brands, and Khaite isn’t the only one she’s carried that has us fawning. On various occasions, she has toted carryalls from Harmin, Hunting Season and Zadig & Voltaire which are just the kind of inconspicuous luxuries that many of us crave.
Another one of Katie’s trustee holdalls, the Perriand City, is from the English label, Métier London. It’s the one I’m digging SO much right now, I might actually want it more than Hermès (oh the blasphemy!).
I envision Katie Holmes hand in hand with Suri Cruise on one side and a Métier bag cradled on her other arm. I’m quite certain that’s how most of us city-dwellers on-the-go look: eternally living life on a precarious balance. And for us, our bags are our best friends – holding not only our bare necessities but also scores of other things we need to carry “just in case things happen”. Our purses need to be a marriage of function and elegance, one that does not allow for a divorce!
It is with exactly that in mind that Melissa Morris of Métier London designs and crafts her wares. Having graduated with a background in sculpture and business from Emory University Atlanta, Morris sees sculpture everywhere, and her designs are very much inspired by vintage sports cars and mid-century Arab architecture.
“I look at each bag as a sculpture and think about its structure and how I can use its shape to cleverly insert hidden pockets in top seams. Or, how I can make the base rounded so it’s softer,” Melissa says, as she describes how her non-fashion background helps her look at things much more uniquely.
And with her level of attention to detail, perfection wasn’t easy! It took three years for her to innovate a process capable of producing bags that are lightweight and durable, as well as slouchy but also structured (exactly the way I like!). Eventually she launched her label in 2017 (then, rather ill-advisedly, known as LONB – Love or Nothing Baby!). Métier bags are like life partners, carrying them are a journey and you literally discover them (from secret pockets to hidden details), fall in love with them and wrap your lives around them.
Another major aspect to Métier is what its Production Director (and head craftsman), Luca Flavi, describes as creating “invisible luxury”. Much like bespoke tailoring, extreme accuracy is maintained – even a difference of 1mm can ruin its luxuriousness!
As the Rake describes the Process, “hundreds of stitches, a precisely-placed stud, a cleverly-concealed buckle and strap—so much remains invisible to the eye but does the work of ensuring that the fine, natural leather won’t pull or bunch when force is applied to the pressure points (like, say, the lifting of a handle). This is what Métier London’s master craftsman calls Invisible Luxury.”
Flavi requires more than 20 hours to create each Métier purse, crafting it entirely by hand, so you see, it isn’t entirely irrelevant to draw comparisons with Hermès!
But what about the bags themselves? They have simply won over my heart and soul – and also those of stars like the Duchess of Cambridge, who swears by the brand’s Roma Mini, and Nicole Kidman, who toted the spacious and graceful Sergeant Carryall in the HBO mini-series, The Undoing. Alongside these, there’s of course Katie Holmes’ Perriand (which I can’t help but rave about), the Private Eye, an exceedingly chic and extremely apt work bag (its Riviera Blue edition is the only blue bag you’ll ever need!), and the Incognito Cabas, which will probably fit me inside it! Métier further offers an extensive men’s range featuring the Rider Backpack, Briefcase, the Vagabond Holdall and more, while also specialising in homeware pieces like wine holders and glass charms, pencil cases, notebooks and leather backgammon sets, all of which Melissa devised in her London flat during isolation.
This leaves me with no doubts that Métier is quickly set to become an absolute darling (the way Holly Golightly puts it) and maybe even rival Hermès one day! But as much as I’d like to curate some pieces from their collection here for you guys to see, it’s honestly too much of a dilemma to decide what to choose and what to not! So, I’ll just leave y’all to discover Métier’s entire range and wait for you to join the PurseForum thread on Métier London.
So, what are you waiting for? Let the drooling begin!
