For L’Wren Scott, the old saying is true. Mother knows best—at least where handbags are concerned.
The stylist-turned-designer debuts her first full-sized handbag, the Lula, this week, a ladylike structured bag inspired, she tells Style.com, by the bag her mother carried when she was a girl. “I didn’t really base it around anything other than my mom’s handbag that she always carried,” she says. “She had this very structured bag that you always heard open and close when she was coming or going. That was a specific feeling for me.”
It’s not quite the Proustian madeleine, but it did make an impression. When Scott set out to design the bag—after the success of the mini pochette she debuted last season—she wanted to make a functional, comfortable carry-all. “You had to be able to carry it on your arm, or it could fit on your shoulder, even if you were wearing shoulder pads,” she explains. “When you sit down, you hear it sit down on the table, [too]. When it opens and closes, you hear the whoosh—I love the sound of a bag.”
Available exclusively at Barneys, the Lula comes in three sizes—a small, a large, and a weekender—in calfskin, python, and crocodile. (Prices range from $2,300 for the small up to $20,500 for the large in croc.) The Italian-made bags sport gunmetal hardware (the hardest part to perfect, Scott says) and come in purple, black, and a rich brown called Bordeaux, as well as a special mauve python skin. Each features compartments for iPads and cell phones (and, exotic-skin versions come with a smaller pochette inside). But whatever you pack, Scott promises one thing.
“It closes!” she laughs. “You can fit everything in it—and it
still closes. It’s deceiving, because you can fit so much in it, even the small one. That’s super-exciting for a girl.” Just like Mom always knew.
Photo: Courtesy of L’Wren Scott
Some girls only have eyes for the mini—even some girls in our office—but the latest from YSL could change a few minds. The new Chyc Cabas hits stores this week as an early arrival of the Fall 2011 collection. The sheep-leather carryall ($1,995, available at YSL stores and
www.ysl.com) comes in neutrals, leopard-print, and a few well-chosen brights (we especially like the Yves Klein blue). As we run around town this week for innumerable Resort appointments, we’re grateful once again for a bag big enough to hold a notebook, schedule, and a few handfuls of lookbooks. We’re not the Cabas’ only fans, either. It’s already been spotted on the arms of Nicole Kidman, Salma Hayek, Leighton Meester, and French first lady-turned-Woody-Allen cameo star Carla Bruni.
Photo: Courtesy of YSL
Hot on the heels of his CFDA Award for Accessory Designer of the Year, Alexander Wang has more accessory news to share: For Fall, he’s debuting wallets and small leather goods. That doesn’t mean you have to wait until July to get your hands on them. Next Friday, June 17, the designer will offer the first of the new category of accessories—the Zelmira wallet in ponyskin ($525), the Mini Adriel bag in ostrich ($275), the Compact Quillon in metallic ($235), and the Prisma biker purse in printed ostrich ($295)—exclusively on eBay’s
Fashion Vault. For 24 hours, shoppers will be able to buy (not bid on; the pieces will be sold under eBay’s “Buy It Now” option) wallets and mini-bags direct from the Fall runway that won’t be available anywhere else.
Designing small leather goods, Wang tells Style.com, is no different from their bigger sisters. “It’s always the same approach,” the designer says. “How do we create without overdesigning? There’s always a sense of masculinity and irreverence we look to, but also an ease of usage.” How, then, to carry these small pieces? In some cases, as a clutch instead of a larger bag. “Less is more,” Wang advises. “Ditch all the makeup and keep it to the essentials—keys, money, and phone. It’s a lot sexier when a girl isn’t carrying around a bag full of tricks.”
Photos: Courtesy of Alexander Wang
a Real addict here. Big, small don't matter what kind, I love them. OK the have to look good. En they do. Don't you think.
