Centurion Australia Summer 2017

STYLE & BEAUTY EN VOGUE

STYLE & BEAUTY EN VOGUE Crafting Bulgari’s Serpenti Forever X Nicholas Kirkwood, a collaboration with the shoe designer From top: Dior Addict Delvaux Madame Mini, Iron Shield Louis Vuitton Twist Bulgari Serpenti Forever X Nicholas Kirkwood BRANDS THAT SPECIALISE IN FUR GIVE IT VIRTUOSO ATTENTION FOR BAGS Paula Cademartori Rachel Valextra Passepartout Con Lati Mongolia In some cases, however, the leather itself is the crafted material. Bottega Veneta (bottegaveneta.com) is famous for its intrecciato, fine strips of leather, or exotic skin like python, tightly woven to create a flexible yet durable bag with interesting texture enhanced by the way it reflects light. The iconic Knot bag has been developed into a wider range with a new, antiqued metal clasp: the chain-handled Olimpia Knot is the pick, the version in karung skin so expertly made it shows an overall snakeskin pattern. Inlay is another leather craft and one which designer Paula Cademartori (paulacademartori.com) has made her hallmark. The jigsaw of tiny pieces, creating designs from delicate florals to bold abstract animal effects in bright colours or in all black, where the pattern is created by different skins and finishes, has to be cut with absolute accuracy. All the more amazing that she started by doing them entirely herself. Asimilarly painstaking craft is needle-punching, where threads of one yarn are gradually introduced into an area of another, giving an ombré effect. Loewe’s (loewe.com) highly creative British designer JW Anderson has persuaded the brand’s skilled Spanish craftsmen to needle-punch wool into leather, so the bag segues into Fair Isle patterning, its edge bound with several different coloured layers of fine piping, achieved with pinpoint accuracy. Politically incorrect though it may be, fur is the reverse side of leather, and brands that specialise in it give it virtuoso attention for bags. The last haute couture collection from Fendi (fendi.com) included fur cut so finely it looked like lace, so to create a Peekaboo bag in a fine, regular pattern of 52 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM DISCOVER THE ART OF CRAFT GO TO: CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM

ANY OF THESE DESERVES RESPECT, BUT THEY MAY ALSO EARN THEIR KEEP PHOTOS © THE VENDORS Moynat Mini Vanity Clouté intarsia shaved mink is a doddle for its craftsmen, who bring similar expertise to other details such as delicate appliquéd watersnake. Valextra (valextra.com), a byword for understated, impeccably made leather bags, has recently added individual trims to its classic Passepartout style, including a detachable clutch bag fronted with a wide variety of furs from smooth mink to long-haired Mongolian lamb, as well as other materials such as handwoven, deeply textured wool. F ine leather becomes a canvas for decoration at brands like Gucci (gucci.com), where designer Alessandro Michele’s maximalist tendency brings as great a craft mix to bags as it does to clothes. Ornate, stamped gold leaf borders with stamped golden stag beetles, an engraved metal bee and a sculpted metal, jewel-eyed fox’s head as clasp on the bamboo-handled Broche create a vintage cabinet-of-curiosities mood founded in Michele’s fascination with wildlife specimens, as does the Ottilia with its printed, subtly coloured moths and line-up of appliquéd metal insects. Louis Vuitton’s (louisvuitton.com) new Twist patchworks the classic logo pattern-coated canvas with leather and a finely worked, brogue-style trim in hand punching. Dior (dior.com) mixes printing, embroidery, beading and even hand-painting on soft calfskin for ethereal designs that reflect designer Maria Grazia Chiuri’s allegorical view of women’s place in the cosmos. Equally eclectic style can be found at London-based, Como-made artisan brand Gladstone (gladstonelondon.com), which offers customised, hand-painted designs to individualise its fine, low-key travel bags. The flamboyant studding and beading on many bags may be even more ornate still. Bulgari’s (bulgari.com) bags are as carefully made as its jewellery: the collaboration with shoe designer Nicholas Kirkwood on the classic Serpenti theme features a complex, zigzag pattern of studs like a gilded, mythical snakeskin, and a modern take on the enamelled snakehead clasp. By comparison, the cube bag by Moynat (moynat.com) is discreet but no less crafted; it is made like an antique treasure trunk and while one version has studs another has a fine pattern of minute, handset perforations. At the opposite end of the scale, Belgian brand Delvaux (delvaux.com) creates Game of Thrones-inspired “armour” plates, made of lightweight leather with a fine, shiny top layer that mimics metal, fastened with metal studs. Any of these precious objects deserves respect, but they may also earn their keep: tend them carefully, in bag and original box, and you may have a genuine future investment on your arm. Bottega Veneta Olimpia Knot Gladstone Ocean Fendi Peekaboo Gucci Broche Loewe Barcelona Knit CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 53