Gunmetal Caiman fuscus crocodile with gold metallic python trim.
We continue to look at some of the key bags which have defined the it-bag era. Having previously looked at classic offerings from Chloé and Hermés we now move to the legendary design house of Dior. Under the careful leadership of John Galliano the French fashion house has gone from strength to strength especially with accessories.
Brown/white zebra-print hair-calf front (shown) with brown leather back (see below).
Many days I forget what we ladies must do to impress men. It is a vicious circle that takes hours of prep and in the hot and humid summer my attempts usually just fail. My hair is disheveled, I begin to sweat, my skirt sticks to my legs, my heels kill my feet, but I am sure trying to make an impression for my man and in general.
Create a picture of modern style in these fearless pumps from Calvin Klein. Patent leather or printed calf hair upper in a dress two piece style, with a pointed toe and bold geometric front embellishment. Ankle strap features adjustable buckle and hidden elastic panel.
Calvin Klein unleashes a torrent of sultry style with this dress sandal. Soft suede upper in a dress two-piece sandal style, with an open toe, stitching accents, thin front straps that weave and curve to form a cage-like effect and back cross ankle strap with adjustable buckle and elastic panel for comfort.
The crowds went wild when celebrities like the Olsen twins and Jessica Simpson started popping up in these patent and wood/cork creations.
So what will the fashion-savvy woman be wearing upon her feet this spring?
Platform soles, extreme heels, and patent uppers are among the biggest trends, but there are several other mini-trends that fashionistas will want to explore.
A fresh trend for the racing season is to up the ante on a simple, elegant dress by adding brilliant accessories. You're looking for shoes which provide more than a full-stop at the end of your outfit. An ankle tie or strap extends the shoe's decorative qualities up your leg.
Combine that with brilliant coloured leathers or a striking print — and a harmonising clutch or bag — to change the focus on an outfit. Your dress, or blouse and skirt, provides the silhouette; the accessories provide impact, interest, a playful twist.'
Men can have their cars and watches. Women have shoes and bags, lots of them, at any price! To me a bag and/or a pair of shoes are an asset something that gains worth rather then loosing it. There are people that shop and buy the “it” bag and that is one of my favorite things to do. But then there is the artistic aspect in it as well.There are collectors – people who may not necessarily use the articles they are purchasing, but they still want them. They become an heirloom; that might be passed down through generations.
For today’s article I went to The Most Expensive list of bags and shoes made according to Forbes magazine. The articles highlighted are unbelievable in construction, in design, and elite. First, we have the Hermes Black Crocodile Birkin Bag encrusted with Pave Diamonds.
This bag was auctioned off at Doyle’s New York and SOLD for $64,800! (I can tell you, it didn't go to me either.) Now, when carrying this bag you will need an out of this world pair of shoes to complement.
Here we have Manolo Blahnik Alligator knee high boots priced at $14,000. You may NEVER want to actually wear these on the street; I would be sick over the possible scuff marks. I recommend wearing in the house while walking on a cashmere rug.
Now, if you didn’t have $65k to drop on the Birkin then coming in close second – is the Fendi B Black Crocodile Bag selling for $27,700. Honestly, if and when I get to this level of collecting this is something that is awe-inspiring. The workmanship that goes into this is possibly invaluable.
I ask that you take pleasure in these collectible items go somewhere miraculous in your mind. Be You – Be Fabulous.
Dolce&Gabbana also have a great niché range of designer bags and by order only bags. They presented a new line with their Animalier range in December 2006. This new line of accessories features the characteristic leopard print, which has been such a constant in the history of the brand, that it has become its true signature. Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, feel that animal prints are essential for the existence of divas and divine women.
Dolce&Gabbana revisited and revamped this great classic bag, developing its own exclusive fabric silk-screened in four colours, and that thanks to a special technique creates an illusion of real leopard skin with irregular spots.
This special animal print is further enhanced by a discreet lettering of Dolce&Gabbana, and the leather goods all have a stirrup, which is another recurrent symbol in the accessories’ history of the brand.
This extensive Dolce&Gabbana collection, comprises 21 luxury handbags in different shapes and sizes, small leather goods, vanity cases, double face belts, hats, flats and Alice bands.
It is distinguished by the combination of leopard print fabric and white or tobacco leather.
Animalier has been available at Dolce&Gabbana stores since December 2006.
As ordinary consumers flash their designer handbags, very wealthy rich consumers feel a need to show their distance, and they want even more distinction from their luxury handbag. Designer bags have become classless, and their purchase is not always dependant on income. This means bag prices are rising and the new market for top end bags is around £3,000.
But that top end is very elastic and finishes around the private collection, 'Wait List' bags, that cost £70,000. Such bags in the latter price range are usually finished with diamond pavé studs. But £2,000 for a bag spend is no longer a rare occurrence.
The picture to the left is of the latest John Galliano designed 'Jeanne' handbag, made for Dior and available at Harrods. The chain mail detailing, takes inspiration from Joan of Arc, and the handbag is available in dark grey calfskin, sand ostrich, mint green stingray and grey crocodile (£10,160).
This is a fabulous bag with an unusual futuristic, but medieval armour feel.
I know I would love a Dior bag like the 'Jeanne' above. I love the proportions and the detail of the Jeanne bag. However, you may have noticed that it is the price of small car, and is pure arm candy. 'Jeanne' is also available at a lesser price (a mere couple of thousand), in nu buck and goats skin. The image is courtesy of Harrods, who are now selling a limited, but growing range of goods online.
The luxury handbag is the ultimate fashion statement, it is a major status symbol of today. It's a known fact that the average weight of a handbag in Britain is 31/2 lbs. Most women cram personal items into their bags in an effort to be prepared, 'just in case I need it'. But what makes this particular gold bag below so special, is that the Zagliani materials are treated with resin employed silicone injection techniques.
Zagliani make beautiful crocodile bags, which are as soft as silk. In this case Italian dermatologist Mauro Orietti-Carella has pioneered a technique to enable skins, such as python and crocodile, to be transformed into smooth shiny soft supple surfaces.
The crocodile skin in the handbag left has been silicone treated and once softened it is hand crafted into a four figure bag. The process is similar to the use of Botox injections to keep human skin plumped.
This Zagliani handbag right costs £1,280 at Harvey Nichols. Zagliani bags are available in the UK from Harvey Nichols and also from Matches.
If my husband is reading this - darling I'd be thrilled to own 'it'!
A work of art.
This past summer I traveled to Paris and stumbled into the Marc Jacobs store. I have always loved his bags because of their classic shapes, the unique colors, and his use of hardware. I had saved for something special to buy when I was in Paris and of course I thought of buying a bag. I walked in and my eyes went directly to a satchel bag that was quilted black leather with gold hardware.
The fashion accessory is a huge growth area, with handbags the prime purchase. It is forecast that in just 3 years, by 2010 handbag spending will be worth a billion dollars. Accessory designers are now as driven as fashion designers to produce lots of new styles that hit the seasonal mark. 
Bag inflation means the consumer now has to spend around £800+ for a decent luxury handbag, compared to £500 just a couple of years ago. The value of any selection is also made worthless by the fickle nature of fashion. This development means a designer handbag may last just a season, if poorly selected, a bag can become outré in the space of a few months.
Picture Right - this lovely navy blue perforated leather butterfly designer handbag, is by Alexander McQueen. It is a reworking of the Novak signature bag by McQueen. A good designer can play with a signature style and make it new each season. This bag is available from Browns Fashion of South Molton Street, London, UK or their online site at £1,015. It is pretty, and special in its own right, which is always a good reason to make any selection. Image courtesy of Browns.
Spring is coming and sooner than later we are going to have to happily put those puffer coats away and trade in our winter bags for the new season's bag de jour. In this case, there are 3...
I am dreaming of spring. I am dreaming of beautiful warm days, long walks in the park, sipping coffees at outdoor cafes and people watching.
Clutch bags have been around since the 1930's and their popularity was huge in the 1960's, accompanying gals to clubs or to parties.The Spring 2008 collection was the second effort for Toledo since she was named creative director of the Anne Klein collection (a company owned by multibillion dollar consortium Jones Apparel Group) in an effort to create a fashion nexus for the dated line.
The Bryant Park show, watched by Calvin Klein designer Franciso Costa and the smartest of fashion's smart, was a collection based on an accidental smearing of paint on one of Isabel's dresses by her husband, artist Ruben Toledo. It's title "Art-Attack" refers to an appreciation of the poetic and unexpected mixed with the timeless, ageless elements of "the great American summer wardrobe."
There was fresh geometry in the print of a perfectly cut shirt dress, detailing and colors reminiscent of enamel glass squares, thin belts accentuating a delicate waist on panelled skirts and dresses, swinging liquid silk skirts with a perfection of understated pleats on the hips, and clutches with the folds of a blank canvas.
Visions of drinking Papa Doble's with Hemingway arrived on a glazed silk hooded raincoat, black tar lace wrap dress with thick front stripe detail, ribbon stripe skinny pants paired with tiny prints on a flowing anorak and tunic combination, a luxified dandy stripe coat and full skirt matched with a silver blouse gave an elegant Audrey Hepburn feel and the tarnished plisse blouse and skirt was an elegant, wearable answer to this season's 1930s silhouette.
Casual, chic American Sportswear is what Anne Klein is known for and it was reflected in the Tatami web belt wrap dress with ingenious front pleating, tunics with sleeve and front zip details and cute Spring shift dresses, all cut to create a flattering figure for those who are not a size 0. Worn with belts of patent brights and cotton ticking, paired with Tatami wedges of stripe, a kicky, fresh, chic figure emerged for the Anne Klein customer.
Exquisite were the hand-painted silk broomstick dresses. The crinkled wedge dress in particular had us rethinking our black uniform, with a brilliant ultra-violet and other Spring colors that can only be achieved by hand.
In a world of faddish new designers, tired old re-workings and ostentatious Why's, Toledo presents a perfectly crafted collection to the American woman with a graceful elegance and hint of subversiveness that simply asks "Why not?"
As an artist, Toledo believes it is important to include the intimacies of emotional and tactile elements in her designs. It is remarkable to achieve beautiful, wearable design and maintain such tactility in general, let alone when it is for a billion dollar corporation.
Have art and commerce met? Is Isabel a pioneer in an industry governed by economics? Her husband Ruben Toledo thinks so, and says she is showing the younger generation of designers how making your art and paying your rent can be done.
The fact that this show was on the last day of a fashion season containing only a handful of truly exciting and talented innovators was not lost on us.
Isabel Toledo stands with those as a beacon of hope for the future of a dollar controlled industry where creativity and artistic integrity hang on the edge of the proverbial slippery slope.
This July in Paris, the inspiration for Sir Paul’s very fine men’s collection was the Yorkshire painter, whose love of cheerful stripes, Pop Art ties and youthful round spectacles dominated the runway.
Today in London, the same ideas ran both through the women’s collection and down the splendid catwalk of the superb faded expanse of the Great Horticultural Halls. Bottle-top glasses in swimming pool blue hues; satin piped cricket blazers and rugby sweater columns all had that sunny Californian view of Britain.
His best looks were cable sweaters with Indie album blazers, parachute silk parkas and tops with appliqué flowers. It was a collection of polish and poise and eminently wearable for both first date and lazy weekend.
Plus, the architectural tour that is any good season took a great tangent today in the Art Deco 1929 cantilevered Lawrence Hall, where Smith turned the enormous back-drop into the an artists loft, smartly reworking one of Europe’s greatest concrete spaces.
Paul’s shows are generally the most professionally staged in London; yet somehow today’s show felt, ahem, tired; a designer going through the paces, a talent lacking a viscerally punchy theme, i.e. a slick 30 minutes with no soul.
Genteel uses of tribal prints and jungle foliage were a nod to one of next spring’s dominant themes, used on everything from straight sheath dresses to tailored jackets and matching full skirts. For evening, he went for bold colors like teal, chartreuse and red and sassy ruffles on cocktail dresses, but tribal printed chiffon gowns were the clear winners.
As if to emphasize his unofficial reign of the Upper East Side’s infamous zip code, 10021, Oscar de la Renta staged his show at a church on Park Ave with the live sounds of the ever-uplifting Polyphonic Spree, a symphonic pop rock choir from Dallas.
Tennis star Roger Federer, who just won the U.S. Open, sat next to Vogue editor (and tennis fan) Anna Wintour. His arrival was greeted with as much enthusiasm from the audience as a pop star might elicit (though, these days, they’re a dime a dozen at fashion week), overshadowing Victoria Beckham and Amanda Peet who also sat front row.
As antiseptic as a medical lab and utilizing a color palette that had the austerity of Death Valley, it consisted of a combination of emotionless and stark white separates, pale grey dresses with printed with faint pencil-thin lines, filmy trousers, long, flowing sheaths that rippled as they moved and silk bias cut halter gowns that were held up by the thinnest of cords.
If this sounds like a severe collection, it actually wasn’t, due in large part to Costa’s selection of fabrics – primarily stretch viscose/cotton and silk, which lent the clothes lightness and fluidity even though there was such precision in the lines.
Costa is a designer’s designer, with issues of construction, materials and function always the primary focus of a collection. Costa said post-show that this season, fabrics had played a huge role in the making of the collection.
“I wanted it to be about the simplicity of the forms,” he said.
He opened with a stretch cotton and viscose jacket whose construction gave it the appearance of soft foam, while white pants in the same fabric looked molded to the body.
Aside from those pants, though, things were body-conscious, in the sense that lines fell close to the body, but nothing was ever body hugging. Instead, the clothes merely skimmed the surface, held in place by a simple cord or softly cinched at the waist.
Costa In short, these were clothes that felt very much like the kinds of things you’d feel drawn to wearing on the muggiest day of the year, when you can’t be bothered with anything fussy and yet still want to remain chic.
Echoes of strict uniform styling and their details are coming up, especially among youngsters; it is in line with their political preferences and the need for more discipline and order.
Saturday’s most eagerly awaited show was the presentation of Chloe’s spring summer 2008 collection, the second for the Paris label created by Swedish designer Paulo Melim Andersson...
Chloe has always had a special following in Paris, and its shows always attract a neat crowd of cool Parisian gals with a sense of flirty romanticism.A couple of years ago Marc Jacobs would take his bows in sloppy pants and baggy sweaters like a college swot; on Sunday night he marched down the Louis Vuitton runway trim, tanned and slicked up in a tight suit like a Don Juan rock star...
In a word, from nerd to gigolo in a few short seasons – Jacobs even listed the clothes he wore at the presentation of Vuitton’s spring summer 2008 collection in the program notes. No other designer we know does that. For the record, the suit was Dior Homme.
Jacobs’ current obsession with sex was apparent in his choice of latest artistic collaborator, Richard Prince, the Panamanian born artist whose work is a long treatise on sexual longing, fantasies and precociousness.
The mood was set by the impressive tent built in the Cour Carree of the Louvre, whose top was a series of giant mock postcards extolling the virtues of the red light districts and tart bars of various international capitals.
Prince is famed for developing rephotography - the leader in a whole artistic debate about image authorship - once famously reproducing an image that had appeared in The New York Times. Jacobs took that whole notion and incorporated it into a brilliant series of new bags that used photomontage, faded text and image manipulation. A series of totes, clutches and weekend sacks that were quite simply the best we’ve possibly ever seen at Vuitton. Talk about red hot best sellers!
“I’ve admired Richard’s work for many years and have been collecting it. I think his ideas fit very well with what we are trying to do at Vuitton,” Jacobs said backstage.
The bags were carried by three score of models in a curiously charming and visually arresting mélange of daffy rich doll’s clothes, bored ladies who lunch clearly in search of romance or, at the very least, an afternoon assignation.
Flirty and flared organza skirts, girdles, looping pearl necklaces, Lurex sweatshirts, polyester bar hopping dresses and lots of patent leather shoes all suggested a gin mom off to see her in-town-on-international-business-lover.
For evening, there was a more decayed gentility, as askew tulle looks suggested Miss Haversham meets Grey Gardens. Ironically, Lee Radziwill, neice and cousin of the documentary’s “stars”, was sitting front row.
Adding to allure, was the faintly farcical tour by a dozen supermodels dressed as nurses, whose staff caps collectively bore the letters, LOUIS VUITTON. Stephanie Seymour led the posse, her husband, art collector Peter Brandt applauding in the audience.
Heightening the sense of occasion for what was the final show of the four week Western calendar, there was a long delay after the crowd of some 1,500 settled in their seats. Courtney loved delighted the French by smoking, Catherine Deneuve demanded a glass of water, sparking a trend, Posh Spice entered late with a certain amount of glamour and the impatient photographers did they own wave.
As an exercise in style, it had no equal anywhere, sealed by a super charged soundtrack mixed and mastered by Daft Punk. As a vision of future fashion it was elegant but prosaic. But as an insight into Jacobs’ mood it was revelatory about the “troubled” artist with addictions and demons. The show was a clear announcement that Marc has found that most aphrodisiac of feelings - great self love.
After a long period with too much opulence, color, shine, crazy fashion design, print and pattern mixes and combinations, our mind and eyes want some peace, elegance, sophistication, and a different kind of luxury.
Summer is so close to us...And women as usual are worried about fashion and try to find the latest fashion trends. So here you can find some useful ideas that can help you in your summer wardrobe compiling.
Who needs the New York Times to tell us what the IT bag is when we have our very own Amy Lieberman set us straight.
I will admit that I do own a few designer bags. I enjoy them for their function mostly and not because of the brand name they boast. I will also admit that I look forward to each season for the magazine ads. I love to see what celebrity is endorsing each luxury brand, and how they do it. I will also admit that I regularly read the gossip pages and see what the girls are carrying on their arms. I don’t think I would jump to any admissions of wanting a bag because a celebrity was carrying it. Overall, I would say that a brand and its advertisements influence my purchases over whether LiLo has the same one.
Forbes magazine called it “the costliest handbag on the market.” It may also be the most exclusive as well. Debuting in time for Christmas, the December launch of Chanel’s new Diamond Forever tote will introduce the world’s most pricy bag to date—and the company only made 13 of them. The diamond and (matte) alligator bags have the iconic Chanel logo clasps which are bejweled with 334 diamonds—3.56 carats, if you must know—plunked into a solid 18-carat white gold bedding.
People want exclusivty, and they’re willing to pay a mean dollar to get it.
“A handbag (such as) the Chanel Diamond Forever bag is more of a collector’s item than something you use on a daily basis,” said Meaghan Mahoney, editor of Purseblog.com. “Like an exquisite car or a rare painting, it’s the limited availability and high demand that make this handbag more valuable.”
In this month's installment, our UK trend reporter educates us in her piece "For the Lady in You" on how the women across the pond show us how it is done.
It’s time to trade your summer slouch for something more sophisticated. Just like Pimms in the park, pretty prints and candy colours are sweet memories as autumn lends itself to handbags that are all grown up.
With more structure, straight lines and stylish detailing in rich, dark colours, these handbags are sexily matching function with fashion. Belonging on the arm of confident and classy women, you may have to lock away your inner child but you’ll find acting your age has never been so much fun.
"Harlot." Just the name says it all. Paris Hilton donned these immediately after they came out, and I was one of the privileged to snag a pair on a trip to Las Vegas (they weren't selling them in my city.) Immediately after I got them they were stolen.
This one is definitely a thrift for every fashion-freak out there! Burberry Blue Label gives you a very nice Burberry well-known plaid pattern design with much less price compare to it's first-line.
Coach’s Carly stylish tote reflects a great level of progress in the form of this huge form of the bag.
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