When it comes to the latest wave of independent bag designers, infiltrating the Old Boys’ Club is not among the challenges these women faced when starting their lines. But breaking into a system of established leather goods made by centuries-old European luxury houses does have it ups and downs. Starting a collection in a saturated marketplace can be equal parts thrill ride and endurance test. As Dee Ocleppo remarked, “It’s been like dragging a refrigerator across a beach,” while Jill Fairchild said of the experience, “When do we get our lives back?” Jill Haber said her biggest challenge was “Just getting people to understand that I make beautiful bags. Trust me.”
One thing they all agree on is that a big key to success is establishing a unique product. Here are 10 emerging names and the bags for which they’re best known.
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JILL HABER
Year Launched: 2013
Retail Price Range: $450 to $2,195
Top Retailers: Harvey Nichols;Moda Operandi; Ikram; Chuckies New York
Key Looks: Modern, vintage-inspired evening boxes; mixed-media clutches and day bags.
How important is the “signature bag” and why?
“It’s helpful, but it’s not crucial,” Haber said. “I do evening bags, I’m starting to do day bags, I do top handles, metal frames, soft cuts — everything. I just want a woman to think, ‘I want a bag, so I want a Jill Haber bag.’ I don’t want anyone to think, ‘Ugh, it’s that same-old, same-old.’”
SARA BATTAGLIA
Year Launched: 2010
Retail Price Range: $908 to $1,020
Top Retailers: Saks Fifth Avenue; Intermix; Matches; Le Bon Marché; Al Ostoura; On Pedder; Lane Crawford; Luisa via Roma
Key Looks: Lady Me, a clutch with metal details in gold or silver, made in satin or leather; Bespoke, a clutch with metal details in gold or silver with application of letters, made in satin or leather; Teresa Bag, a shoulder bag with fringe made in leather with triangle application in Plexi.
How important is the “signature bag” and why?
“With a designer bag, you can have the quality or the creativity and luxury,” Battaglia said. “With mine, you have all of them.”
DELPHINE DELAFON
Year Launched: 2013
Retail Price Range: $283 to $1,700
Top Retailers: SaksFifthAvenue; Le Bon Marché; Harvey Nichols
Key Looks: Thebucketbag—most popular in black leather and mixed with python skin, studs and fringes. For spring, the designer is launching her second style, a saddle bag, in a rich mix of contrasting materials, including conventional and exotic skins, embellished and mixed with vintage fabrics.
How important is the “signature bag” and why?
“All brands have their signature styles for customers to quickly identify with them,” Delafon said. “But it’s even more relevant for the customer to have a signature of her own. [Parisian] girls don’t dress in designer clothing from head to toe. They like to run around in a pair of jeans to remain practical, so they look at the bag as the cherry on top. There’s a fetish relationship between the girls and their bags, which — unlike the rest of their look — can be a little bit more luxurious; distinctive, but easy.”
ELENA GHISELLINI
Year Launched: 2013
Retail Price Range: $567 to $2,024
Top Retailers: Saks Fifth Avenue; Bergdorf Goodman; La Rinascente; Joseph; Luisa Via Roma; Harvey Nichols; Coin Excelsior; Moda Operandi; Neiman Marcus Direct; Jacques Loup; Boutique 1; J Direction
Key Looks: The Felina Box in scarlet, a metallic box clutch with leather flap and metallic details; the Gabria Sensua Reef leather bowler bag; the Gia P Tiger Jamaica printed leather clutch with detachable fringed strap, and the Mini Leo Sensua, a black leather bucket.
How important is the “signature bag” and why?
“The signature bag is a challenge and an achievement,” Ghisellini said. “It’s important to develop a unique item that [captures the brand’s] style and philosophy. A signature bag is a timeless and individual piece that, no matter the season or age of the client, effortlessly fits the time and the woman who wears it. My objective is to create essential bags that are contemporary cool and define a status.”
AEVHA
Creative Director: Alice Horlick
Year Launched: 2013
Retail Price Range: $765 to $1,54
Top Retailers: Graziashop; 1st Dibs; Handbag.com
Key Looks: Sculptural silhouettes and hand- carved finishes.
How important is the “signature bag” and why?
“The signature bag is key in defining and embodying a brand,” Horlick said. “When women purchase a handbag they are investing in a status symbol, and to build the signature bag into this symbol is the most important thing an emerging designer can do. It will remain a constant, despite the changing seasons and trends; it will never go out of style.”
HAYWARD
Year Launched: 2014
Retail Price Range: $500 TO $15,000
Top Retailers: HaywardHouse;Moda Operandi; Farfetch.com
Key Looks: Spring cross-body in black-and- white leather, and canvas with pink python trim; hobo in navy suede with caramel veg tan whip-stitched leather handle; box clutch in black alligator.
How important is the “signature bag” and why?
“As much as I love bags that are unadorned — and we do make them — I do want [our customers] to have a reason to gravitate toward our bags,” Hopper said. “It doesn’t have to be so obvious, but it does have to be something that catches the eye for that particular brand.”
DEE OCLEPPO
Year Launched: 2012 in Harrods; expanded globally in 2014
Retail Price Range: $595 to $15,000 (main collection); $295 to $695 (upcoming secondary collection, BagBar)
Top Retailers: SaksFifthAvenue; Harrods; The Room at Hudson’s Bay; deeocleppo.com
KEY LOOKS: Classic silhouettes with patented interchangeable covers. Top-selling silhouettes are the Roma, available in mini, medium and large, and the Hong Kong, a cross-body bag that holds the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6+.
How important is the “signature bag” and why?
“It’s important in order to make a dent or make your mark, particularly when you are launching a brand,” Ocleppo said. “It doesn’t matter if you are already a Louis Vuitton or [an established brand] like that. In my case, it certainly helps.”
FAIRCHILD BALDWIN
Designers: Jill Fairchild and Karen Baldwin
Year Launched: 2013
Retail Price Range: $495 to $1,850
Top Retailers: JulianGold;PeterElliot; Barbara Katz; Button Down; Saks Jandel; Copius Row; Elements; Amina Rubinacci; Paul Simon; Walin & Wolff
Key Looks: Evening “O” bag; bags that go from day to night, such as the rucksack, the mini Victoria style and the Arabella tote.
How important is the “signature bag” and why?
“It is very important — it is the beginnings and the birth of a collection,” Fairchild said. “Once you have that signature bag, then you build around it, and that’s how you build the rest of your collection. Also, that’s how the market identifies you. Once you’ve hit the nail on the head, you can reinvent it over and over again.”
PAULA CADEMARTORI
Year Launched: 2010
Retail Price Range: $700 to $2,600
Top Retailers: Net-a-porter; Saks Fifth Avenue; Holt Renfrew; Antonia; Lane Crawford
Key Looks: Petite Fay top- handle bag; Tatiana shoulder bag; Alice cross-body; Sylvie clutch.
How important is the “signature bag” and why?
“Shaping a signature model means making your aesthetic and vision strongly identifiable and different from others,” Cademartori said. “Its value is paramount, for it’s a proof of the right creative sensibility, intuition, and way to create something that is unique, timeless and desirable. As a designer, I must admit that this is surely the most challenging and exciting part of the job.”
LITTLE LIFFNER
Year Launched: 2012
Retail Price Range: $350 to $600
Top Retailers: Barneys; Tomorrowland; UnitedArrows
Key Looks: The brand launched with three large styles: tote, clutch and pouch, nicknamed “Power,” before introducing a saddle bag, the main style for the spring. Each bag marries clean Scandinavian lines with Italian craftsmanship.
How important is the “signature bag” and why?
“I started my brand as a [counter-movement] to the ‘It’ bag. The styles are simple, because I wanted them to evolve with the kind of style a customer likes,” Liffner said. “A signature is important so customers can get to know the brand and get used to it. But it’s also important to evolve and perfect one’s own style. So I wanted to have the notion of a bag that is not branded, which would allow you to wear it longer and in more versatile ways.”