It’s always a privilege to attend the Boucheron presentation in Paris during Couture Week. The luxury jewel brand’s media gathering in July served up dazzling beats of precious stone designs. In the Vendome head office, creative head Claire Choisne describe the pieces as influenced from her trip to Iceland. The island’s wondrous landscape shaped by water, ice, waves and volcanic terrain provided inspiration to the French native. Travel can be a story in different forms.
“Luxury bags make your life more pleasant, make you dream, give you confidence, and show your neighbors you’re doing well.” Largerfeld.
As the luxury handbag bubble pops due to working condition and mark-up scandals and over, there are alternatives to big brands. The labels I listed below are small, not mass produced, but more importantly, unique. A person carrying one of these pieces will get a lot of compliments.
While in Milan, walking by Up You To Anthology on my way to a Fashion Week appointment, I decided to go in. After speaking to the curator, he told me each bag is designed by artists with a limited production run.
During Pitti Uomo I always pass by the Sentiero Florence store. Looking in the window I decided to go in and see. The sales lady told me about the family owned label still producing handbags in Tuscany.
I am recommending this brand because the online review have been good for this Madrid’s La Portegna. Spanish producers are known for quality leather goods.
I met the Bonastre team at Pitti Uomo. As a small luxury brand the designer and staff have close relationship all aspects of the Paris based label from design to the final product.
The Dior Fantasy is of a handbag made with passion in a stylish factory.
The reality is very different. Dior’s handbags are made mass produced under sweatshop conditions.
Luxury industry has adopted the same appalling production model as their fast fashion counterparts. Today, Dior faces charges of exploitative production practices. As the lust for high end products grew the business model changed to satisfy consumer wants. Mass consumption means mass production. Luxury went from exclusive to inclusive. Many highly sort after brands morphed into glorified Zaras.
Big fashion companies are integrated entities with huge supply chains needing products to sell. Big profit margins at the expense of quality, the product will suffer from a bottom line decision. As many shoppers are learning, perhaps the pricey handbag may not be worth the extravagantly inflated price tag.
Almost on every corner in major cities there is a luxury brand. In London, seven Louis Vuitton stores are north of the Thames. Buyers fooled themselves into believing they had entitled admittance to a club, when in reality they had been conned. As the headlines from Italy continue to roll, shock is turning to outrage. A 56 euros bag selling at 2800 euros rankles. On social media, opinions range from disappointment to disgust. One Korean YouTube Blogger reported local customers are going to the Dior Store asking for their money back or returning bags purchased in the past few weeks.
Does anyone remember when the French House was giving away thousands of Saddle Bags in 2018 to online celebs? As influencers peddled luxury wares, none asked serious obvious questions concerning production techniques or quality. Brand chasers just take the gift, no questions asked. Watching video after video from “tastemakers” many have labeled accessories in their backgrounds while telling followers about being disillusioned with Dior. Life is cruel. Stylists loved posting big label overpriced bags on Instagram feeds. Why do brands burn excess unsold stock? Missed clues. Maybe what they were making was not as valuable as we were led to believe. As an editor I favoured small brands. The teams have a family feel with real knowledge of their products and production process.
When searching for validation by buying an expensive handbag, let the buyer beware.
The expression “a sucker is born every minute” applies to luxury fashion these days. Paris label Dior knows the world wants to belong to the bourgeois club. Buying an expensive handbag is an arm reach into another social circle. Emotions of supreme consumption in boutiques satisfies those temporary upward mobility urges was not lost by the fashion’s profit driven machine.
The world’s largest opulent entity, LVMH, learned how to make the desirable more accessible by making it more scarce while producing cheaper products. A business model earning billions every year.
When the Italian authorities announced the seizure of a factory producing Dior bag in sweat shop conditions. Many laborers were illegal. Beds were in the factory enabling 24-hour production. According to reports the production site was sourced to produce handbags for the French brand. Certainly, raised eyebrows hit the ceiling after the announcement of the cost of producing one handbag, 57 euros. The more surprising news is the end price for the aspirational buyer, 2750 euros. That is a markup of nearly fifty times the production cost. In comparison, an Apple iPhone’s markup cost is double the manufactured price.
Admittedly, this author was not shocked by the news. During Pitti Uomo, a tannery colleague with a factory located in the same area of LVMH’s facilities told me there were many questionable production techniques involved in the company’s workings. This is not the first time Louis Vuitton has been hit by authorities concerning production. In 2010 UK Advertising Standards Authority banned two misleading ads concerning handmade bags when in reality they were machine made.
At the time of writing the seized factory is under control of the prosecutors.
The next time gazing in front of a Dior window with frivolous desires, remember the quote: “People don’t want the truth because they don’t want the illusions destroyed.”
My first round picks from Couture Weeks from Paris.
I am still looking over the images, my second round of picks are coming.
Day two of Paris Fashion Week Couture, here are four we like.
Stay tuned for more coverage on the designs, designers and collections.
Berlin’s luxury department store felt a bit strange this season. Every year I visit the seven floor Kudamm fashion temple during Chrstimas for a glass of Champagne. Then I grab a few gifts and items. Happily the food floor was open. But, due to the recent strict lockdown the shopping floors have been mothballed and bars were closed.
Paris Haute Couture Week or days have passed. In the New Normal, runway shows are from a past era. Being front row at a Chanel is not immunity from Covid-19.
What I did I think? Without the runway and excitement it felt a bit of a let down. Brands opted for long videos and short films. I had the feeling of watching a long Calvin Klein Obsession commercial. Fashion Week should center around fashion but for some reason it did not. I am not sure why. Fashion houses spent a lot of money showcasing film techniques. For some reason, the clothes took a backseat, a bit strange for a fashion week. As a film buff, one time aspiring filmmaker, part film critic; I would ask some teams, “What Happened”? Fashion Weeks focus on clothes.
#Paris Fashion Week Haute Couture and Menswear Week without runways being delivered online felt like watching 3 hour Calvin Klein Obsession Commercials. #fashion #fashionweek #pfw #hautecouture #Mensfashion #fashionblogger #fashiondesigner #FashionFriday #ootdfashion # pic.twitter.com/0D26KNQQGT
— BlackandPaper (@BlackandPaper1) July 10, 2020
Looking for inspiration, fashion and film have a relationship dating back to the Golden Age of Hollywood. “The Women”, director George Cukor’s 1939 black and white all starer included a 6 minute Technicolor fashion parade. Audrey Hepburn’s “Funny Face” was scene for scene showcase of the actress wearing Givenchy looks. For some reason many designers and their creators decided to take a more expressive artistic sense mixed with the abstract.
Fashion is live spectacle. I prefer fashion week with blank staring models, self important editors, and Borrowed Sunday Best Dressed Wannabes.
Let’s hope for a vaccine soon.