My kingdom for a bag! (almost literally..) part#2

Definition of an "it" bag : "an easily recognisable status high-priced designer  bag" (wikipedia).

So this is the last part of my to-die-for bags' sequel! Today i'm dealing with THE bag, the Chanel "2.55"  and the story behind it,which has much to tell us from Coco Chanel's own personal life. 

Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel was one of the designers that marked the fashion industry of the 20th century. She was an open minder and a true pioneer with modern ideas that were extremely rare at that time. She always put simplicity and comfort in the front. 

pants, short hair,hats,cuffs and pearls

Therefore, when she realized that women had more responsibilities and a lot of things to do , thus they needed to free their hands and not carry their bags on their hands anymore,she designed a bag that had a strap and would be worn on the shoulder. That bag was first released on February of 1955 and was named after its release date "2.55" .
In most bags ,all characteristics such as the texture,color etc are chosen by designers according to trends or their inspiration at the moment. That is not the case here, as 2.55 was the bag that Coco Chanel herself used everyday, so she designed it in a way to fit her personal needs and reflect her own life. 


After her mother's death, her father left the family and Chanel ended up at a Roman Catholic orphanage where she spent 6 years of her life. The nuns working there wore robes in a red-brownish color and wore chains around their waists in order to hang their keys there. So i was impressed to find out that the straps of the 2.55 are said to resemble the chains the nuns used to wear  and the burgundy lining inside all black 2.55s ,the uniforms of her orphanage. 

There are different scenarios on what inspired Chanel to give the bag the distinctive quilted texture. It might be from the jockey's coats ,as she was fond of horse riding and attended many horse racings. Another possibility is that it resembles the  stained-glass windows of the orphanage or even the light brown suede cushions of her apartment on Rue Cambon in Paris.
The bag has a zippered compartment at the inside of the front. This is were Chanel used to hide her love letters ! There's another outer flap on the back of the bag, where she used to stash extra money. 

the burgundy lining, front inner and back outer flaps

Now about the lock. The original 2.55 that was designed by Coco Chanel herself had the, lately called, "Mademoiselle Lock" - "Mademoiselle "as Chanel never got married. The CC lock was designed and applied only during the 80s by Karl Lagerfeld . Only the bags with the "Mademoiselle lock" are called 2.55 (reissues) , whereas the rest are called "Classic Flaps". However it is usual to call "Reissue 2.55" all bags that resemble the original. 

the 2.55 reissue with the "Mademoiselle Lock"

the Classic Flap

There are however more differences between these two types of 2.55. One is the leather, as the reissue is made by a type of leather that looks kind of worn-out in contrast with the caviar or lambskin that is used for the Classic Flap. The two types of 2.55 come in different sizes too.
In fact:


The Classic Flap comes in 5 sizes:

the medium(left) and small Classic Flap

• Mini- 6.5"  *  5"  *  2.5"  - price €1,450 
• Small - 9'' * 5.5"  * 2" - price in France, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, Italy – €2.300
• Medium - 10"  *  6"  *  3"  - price in France, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, Italy – €2,450 
• Jumbo- 12"  *   8"  *  3"  - price in France, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, Italy – €2,550
• Maxi - 13″ * 9″ * 4″   - price in France, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain,Italy – €2,700

The Reissue comes in 5 sizes-of which two are not being released anymore: 

• The Baby- 7.5"  *  5.75"  * 1.75" - A302224 (size discontinued)  
• Small-  9.75"  *  7.06"  *  2.16"- A302225 -€2,450  
• Medium- 11"  *  8"  *  2.5"- A302226 -€2,700 
• Large - 12.25"  *  9.18"  * 2.5"-A302227-€2,950  
• x-Large/Jumbo - 14.2"  *  9.8"  *  3" - A302228 (size discontinued) 

Almost every girl in the planet who has a thing about fashion wishes to own a 2.55. As a matter of fact, my friend Ele is willing to start a charity with the aim "raise money to help Ele buy a 2.55"  and 'till then she copes with a paper-made replica like the one seen below:p-kidding.-

Do you believe in love at first sight?....

....Well i do! I am now officially in love with Alejandro Ingelmo's shoes. The Parsons educated shoe designer opened his first boutique last September in NY . Apparently , what he does runs in his family as he is the fourth generation of shoemakers, with his grandfather owning a shoe factory and store back in Cuba, where Ingelmo himself was born and raised.

the "turtle"

the "allegria"

the "open toe cece"

the "spider"

His sandals are as to-die-for as his platforms and high-heels and he has an intriguing men's collection too.

He seems to have a fling with snake as all his designs come in snake version and ,as for this season, he likes to play with neutrals and metallics! Again i had a difficulty in finding my favorites from the Spring 2011 collection..I fell in love with every each of them! ...Aww this relationship definitely has a future! 

the "simone"

the "annie"

the "matinee"

the "gilda"

the "angie"

My kingdom for a bag! (almost literally..) part#1

      Definition of an "it" bag : "an easily recognisable status high-priced designer  bag" (wikipedia).

     

      Every once in a while, a designer handbag is characterized as the new "it" bag. However, i have in mind two specific bags that, to me, are THE "it" bags of all time. And these are , of course, the Hermes "Birkin" and the Chanel "2.55".I believe that the term "to-die-for" was first used to refer to one of those two pieces!

So right now i am going to talk about the "Birkin" , for Christ's shake, i've even named my blog after it!

To begin with, the bag was named after the famous artist Jane Birkin. Part of her distinctive style was a straw bag that she used to carry .Backin 1981, on a flight from Paris to London Birkin was seated next to Jean-Louis Dumas , then chief executive at Hermes . When by accident all the contents of her straw bag fell to the floor, she complained to him for not being able to find a leather bag that suited her style. Three years later, Dumas created a black supple leather bag based on a 1892 design and named it after her.

Each "Birkin" is totally handcrafted by specialized French artisans and it takes 48 hours of non-stop work for an average bag to be finished. It can be made of calf skin, ostrich, crocodile or lizard. 

There are also different sizes - 25, 30, 35,40,  50 and 55 centimeters- and a variety of colors: pink , red, brown, navy blue, baby blue, orange, white, golden tan and black. Its weight is about 1100kg and varies depending on the leather used.The lock, keys, buckle hardware and base studs of the bag are being coated with gold or white gold (palladium) to prevent tarnishing. 

However ,  each "Birkin" bag can be custom-made by order, meaning that the customer can choose the hide, color and the type of metallic of its hardware. The prices differ according to the materials chosen and start at $9000 , with the most expensive one costing $150000 , being made of crocodile skin and having a diamond-encrusted lock.

Until recently (april 2010) there used to be a waiting list for the "Birkin" and rumor has it that there was a waiting list of up to 6 years! Hermes has announced that the bag is now available to everyone , but the fact is that it is distributed at Hermes stores in limited quantities and on unpredictable schedules.

Now, why is this specific bag so famous and desirable? In my opinion it's a combination of characteristics. The "Birkin" is large enough to carry what a woman needs to have with her to make the day, in other words it's PRACTICAL. Secondly, there's nothing extravagant about it and it wasn't made under a specific trend that would have made it look "last year", thus it is CLASSICAL.  Its fine leather and shiny but discreet hardware makes it look effortlessly LUXURIOUS and the fact that it is not massively distributed and is handcrafted makes it EXCLUSIVE. The "Birkin" was made to be an "it" bag!

lizard skin 

crocodile skin version

Designers go... massive!

   Once upon a time, fashion was a privilege of the rich . If you were wearing designer's clothes it meant you were of a certain social class and vice versa. As years went by it was inevitable to make fashion more approachable to the masses, as it would have been a great damage to the economy of the fashion industry if it addressed only to the rich minority.

   As a result , we have the big multi-national clothing companies such as Zara, H&M etc. The geniuses behind those companies design collections based on the pret-a-porter outfits of many great designers. Take for example the knitwear Dolce & Gabbana presented at the Winter 2011 show in Milan. Knit sweaters, dresses and scarves with the distinctive  motif of deers . 

D&G

H&M

                                                                                         

                                                                                                                                    

    On the other hand, designers themselves are making a great effort to make the trends and their own creations approachable by a larger public. And what many of them have done is that they design a special collection equally fashionable and of high quality standards but in a much lower price than their other collections. So we have Armani Exchange , Michael by Michael Kors where you can find the luxurity and glamour Kors' designs are known for at prices starting from $80,and then we have the absolute phenomenon called Marc Jacobs. He designs his funky and reasonably priced Marc by Marc Jacobs collection but at his stores you can also buy his "special items". And they are very special indeed! Adressing to the young audience Marc Jacobs has created rain boots, flip-flops, t-shirts (including the famous "Protect the Skin you are in" t-shirts for his campaign against skin cancer) ,canvas totes , cashmere goodies and leather bags at really low prices.

Michael for Michael Kors: faux fur vest $99.5                                        Armani Exchange: Mixed                  

 (about 72 euros), skinny jeans $140 (about 100euros)              Colorblock dress $98 (about 70 euros)

      Another phenomenon is collaboration between renown designers and Fast-Fashion chains. Take for instance all the successful collections H&;M has made the last few years with Mathew Williamson, Victor&Rolf, Karl Lagerfield, Stella Mc Cartney, Roberto Cavalli, Comme des Garcons , Jimmy Choo and lately Lanvin. 

     Of course haute-couture still is exclusive, and i don't think it could be any other way. And as an Andy Warhol masterpiece will always be for a few , so it goes for a Galliano gown. Pieces of Art just can't be massively produced, and if so, the will have lost a great amount of their value and quality.

     

Armani goes gaga for Gaga! (Vogue)

Today i took a peek at the Armani Prive Spring 2011 show and i have to say that it was harder than i had imagined to pick my favorites! What i liked most was the pattern -for once again peak-shouldered jackets and blouses. This trend made its first appearance (after the 40's and 80's) at the Balmain Spring 2009 fashion show in Paris and has been in vogue ever since. I also liked the different kinds of textures and as you'll notice from the looks i chose, those that stole my heart were the trousers and those maxi dresses ,oh my...! In my mind Armani has always been kind of conservative -if you can call an Italian that way- and indeed you can say that his outfits are always characterized by a certain figure as well as the fact that there isn't much playing with colours. In general the whole concept of the clothes was rather Gaga-like in a less extravagant way...Enough said by me, though, take a look!:))

Givenchy Spring 2011 Haute Couture Collection Channels Japanese Transformers

Givenchy Spring 2011 Haute Couture Collection Channels Japanese Transformers as exclusive as it gets!

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