Dimensions
153 x 106 x 29mm
The Bolide. The Plume. The Birkin – object of lust in Sex in the City. Celebrating the must-have accessory for the fashion conscious woman, 'Handbags' is an obsessive, irresistible visual extravaganza, featuring over 900 full-colour photographs of the most luxurious, witty, covetable, talismanic examples of the bagmaker's art and history.
The iconic Hermés Kelly bag, made from first stitch to last by a single craftsperson. Judith Leiber's whimsical minaudiFres, Moschino's smileyface bag, Elsa Schiaparelli's surrealist "bird cage", and the ne plus ultra of fashionable purses – the Chanel bag, reinvented for a new generation by Karl Lagerfeld. There are novelty bags, evening bags, sculptural bags, and class acts. Practical leather pochettes to carry a life, and elegant little reticules for nothing more than a credit card and a lipstick. Profiles of famous bagmakers: Jamin Puech, Kate Spade, Carlos Falchi, and the poet of utility, Bonnie Cashin, with her visionary Cashin Carry bags for Coach. Plus the anonymous Florentine artisans whose specialist leather workshops sprouted up in the 14th century.
A labour of love written by Anna Johnson, author of 'Three Black Skirts', 'Handbags' features over 900 bags from collections, museums, and designers around the world, most of them photographed in seductive full-colour exclusively for the book. The perfectly matched complement to 'Shoes', 'Handbags' is about fashion, about desire, about secrecy, craftsmanship, art, and imagination as well as about the changing roles of women – everything that's packed into every important bag. Includes timelines, fascinating captions, and the It bags – anyone for a Fendi baguette?
