Custom Design

The Hermes Kelly is an iconic bag, but with its structured shape and usual smaller sizes, it lends a very dressy vibe to your outfits. When Hermes sent out the Jypsiere for their Fall 2008 collection, everyone who had been wanting a more casual everyday Kelly were enthused. The Hermes Jypsiere reinterpreted the Hermes Kelly by changing it into a messenger bag that will sit at the hip. The slightly rounded bottom and adjustable shoulder strap reinvented the Kelly in a way most people did not expect.

But the change was welcomed by many, especially me. There is something so elegant about a classically chic messenger style bag. All of the details that Hermes is known for show on this bag, but the overall appeal changes drastically. The Jypsiere is not just an uptown-ladies-who-lunch-bag, it is a much more usable everyday bag.

I keep leaning toward messenger bags lately and last time I was in the Hermes Bal Harbour store I was checking this bag out. Hermes online has started picking up and selling more leather goods, which is actually an unexpected surprise. And that is where you can buy the Jypsiere yourself. There are six colors of the smaller size on Hermes and two of the larger. I love this bag in classic Orange or gold. Buy through Hermes online for $7,600 or $8,100.

What do you think about the Jypsiere: Great reinterpretation or don’t fix what isn’t broken?

Original post by Megs Mahoney Dusil

Tommy Ton, from Jack & Jill blog, hit the streets around New York Fashion Week to photo journal what was happening outside of the tents. One of my favorite photos is the closeup shot of a woman carrying her black Crocodile Hermes Kelly Pochette. The closeup accessory photo exudes elegance. More photos from Tommy Ton hitting the streets of NYC at Style.com here.

Original post by Megs Mahoney Dusil

When two masters of their domain come together to collaborate, no chin is safe from slobbering, wet drool. In this case, the German manufacturer Leica Camera AG and the Parisian high-fashion house Hermès joined forces to create a very special limited edition camera, namely the new Leica M7 Edition Hermès.

I know that this is the PurseBlog and I am going off on distant tangents here. But let me elaborate. I have three good reasons to share my new acquisition with our readers.

Firstly, I am an avid photographer. Not only do I occasionally contribute to the editorial with my Shutterbags bit, but I also enjoy photographing in my spare time.

Secondly, I am an avid Leica fan and collector. Their optics are outstanding, their rangefinder cameras are legendary and have worked their magic in skilled hands of masters like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Annie Leibowitz.

Thirdly, it’s Hermès! There is a good reason that the iconic fashion house’s enthusiastic crowd is one of the most active and devoted on TPF. Hermès’ leather working, craftsmanship and history are second to none.

If that does not convince you, I may just flat out say that I am bloody excited and just want to show off!

This is not the first time that these two iconic companies have joined up to collaborate on a 35mm film M-body. Back in 2003, the first love child came in form of a Leica MP “Hermès Edition”, which was built in a small series of only 500 kits and featured exquisite Barenia calfskin and a 35mm f/2 Leica Summicron-M ASPH in silver chrome.

Hermes has a solid track record of collaborations with other luxury manufacturers, prime example being the spiffy Bugatti Veyron Fbg par Hermès which I had the pleasure of personally discovering back in 2008 in NYC. With a price tag of (now) over $2mil dollars, the car will have to wait.

This new Leica M7 “Hermès Edition” kit includes an Hermes-adorned M7 35mm film rangefinder, a Leica Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH wide-angle lens, a matching classic round lens hood, a Leicavit M rapid winder and an Hermès leather carrying strap, and presents itself in a beautiful linen-covered, silk-lined box. The body of the rangefinder is covered in supple “Swift” calfskin which is, of course, hand-wrapped after a time-consuming tanning process that gives it a fantastic luxurious feel. This series is limited to 100 kits of classic Hermès Orange (serial numbers 1-100) and another 100 kits of Etoupe (101-200) worldwide. As you can see from the images below, I received the early number #8 of the series.

The beautiful M-body is accompanied by an equally stunning silver chrome 35mm f/1.4 Summilux-M lens. As I learned from our local Leica guru David Farkas of Dale Photo, the unique part about this limited lens is that Leica created a new production process to silver anodize the lens’ aluminum alloy barrel and rings; unlike in previous lenses, where the silver chrome effect could only be applied to much heavier brass barrels and rings. As a result, this silver chrome ‘Lux is the same weight as the black anodized version, which is a first for Leica.

You see, I am going to get a whole lot of crap of many Leica enthusiasts for saying this, but for me personally, this is an investment piece that will never see a roll of film. This camera will remain in its cozy silk-lined box until I get a worthy cabinet to display it in for a while, then it will go back to rest in its dark box. If I want to go and throw a rangefinder around, I can rely on my classic M6 to get the job done.

The price for this limited edition is $12,950 and is currently available at Adorama. Only 200 world-wide are available, with very few designated for the North American market.

The Gallery

Original post by Vlad Dusil

I know, I know. You’ve all spent the past few weeks waiting, patiently for the announcement of all announcements… the winner of that gorgeous Hermes Birkin from back in December. You might remember that we partnered with our friends at FabSugar and Portero Luxury to bring you the most amazing giveaway we’ve done thus far – the holy grail of handbags – the Hermes Birkin.

After the random selection we had to make sure we had dotted all our i’s and crossed all our t’s before announcing. But today as the day, and the lucky winner was Kate S. from New Jersey!!! She’s even sent in a picture of her with her new bag. Click here to check it out.

Thanks again to FabSugar and Portero for this amazing partnership, but also thank you to all of YOU who entered! Stay tuned… I’m sure we’ll have even more fabulous things in store for you all in 2010!

Original post by Shannon Mahoney

In the fashion industry (and, increasingly, in any industry), the phrase “Chinese craftsmanship” is usually an implied pejorative. Fairly or unfairly, things that are made in China are generally assumed to be less well-made than those made in Europe or the US, and much has been made over a handful of Chinese product recalls that have been announced for deadly dog food and baby formula or lead-filled toothpaste.

So when Hermes says that they’re going to launch a Chinese-designed, Chinese-manufactured luxury brand, surely they jest, correct? Wrong. Hermes never jests. According to Women’s Wear Daily, the new brand, Shang Xia, will be helmed by a head designer from the Chinese mainland, feature products made from Chinese materials and techniques and be autonomous from the design influence of its legendary parent company. All things considered, is it time to reevaluate our preconceived notions about Chinese-made goods?

Developments in Chinese fashion probably can’t be extrapolated out to optimism about more mundane Chinese exports, but considering how strongly so many of our forum members feel about their favorite brands outsourcing manufacturing to Asia, it’s still a phenomenon worth discussing.

In her oft-quoted book Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster, Dana Thomas explains some unfortunate, well-hidden truths about Asian fashion manufacturing. As it turns out, many of those “Made in Italy” or “Made in France” tags on our favorite bags are technicalities at best. As is the case with lots of electronics, cars, appliances and other consumer items that boast a “Made in the USA” label, most of the components that go into the manufacture of our handbags are made overseas, often in China, before they’re shipped to their final assembly destination to receive their finishing touches and the all-important tag.

Some brands still do all their manufacturing where they say that they do, some save the European manufacturing for runway pieces and outsource the more mundane things to China and some do it all overseas. They all go to great lengths to hide any of their Asian manufacturing from the eyes of their consumers, but fashion is a bottom-line-focused business and Chinese factories present an opportunity to save money that’s too difficult to resist.

Is that necessarily a bad thing? Maybe not. Not all Chinese factories are created equal, and I don’t see why it would be impossible for a brand to enforce meticulous quality standards in whatever factory and country that they choose to produce their bags, as long as they have the correct oversight structure in place. Sure, China is known as the originator of many of the fake handbags that we all hate, but that doesn’t mean LVMH or a company nearly as powerful couldn’t build a state-of-the-art factory for authentic goods down the street. There is nothing inherent in Chinese soil that means that everything that we import from the country must be total crap.

Hermes’s investment in Chinese craftsmanship is perhaps the most striking measure thus far to indicate that China is coming into its own as both a market for and source of luxury fashion. Much has been made over the country’s burgeoning middle class, and it only stands to grown more over the next decade. It’s natural that consumers with newfound expendable income will look to companies in their own country for goods on which to spend it, and giving the Chinese an opportunity to do that may very well be a lucrative venture for the people behind this decision at Hermes. In addition to that, it’s one more step towards legitimizing Chinese manufacturing in the Euro-centric fashion industry, for better or for worse.

Original article via Women’s Wear Daily.

Original post by Amanda Mull

Master of Disguise, Part One here.

Original post by Vlad Dusil

I think it is fair to say those of you who frequent PurseBlog and all of our sister sites, including the Purse Forum (tPF) are handbag lovers. So, while you know which handbags are coveted and for what reasons, others might not know all the details behind why certain bags are more sought after than others.

As you know, we have partnered with our friends at FabSugar and Portero to bring you the most amazing giveaway ever: a Hermes Birkin. The FabNetwork started FabTv a little while back and have produced two videos specifically for this giveaway. Both videos are unique, informative and fun. And if you haven’t already, click on the orange banners on our site and enter to win this Birkin!

What Makes a Birkin Bag So Special & How to Spot a Real v Fake:

Original post by Shannon Mahoney

I think it is fair to say those of you who frequent PurseBlog and all of our sister sites, including the Purse Forum (tPF) are handbag lovers. So, while you know which handbags are coveted and for what reasons, others might not know all the details behind why certain bags are more sought after than others.

As you know, we have partnered with our friends at FabSugar and Portero to bring you the most amazing giveaway ever: a Hermes Birkin. The FabNetwork started FabTv a little while back and have produced two videos specifically for this giveaway. Both videos are unique, informative and fun. And if you haven’t already, click on the orange banners on our site and enter to win this Birkin!

What Makes a Birkin Bag So Special & How to Spot a Real v Fake:

Original post by Shannon Mahoney

Something is rotten in the state of Louisiana.

As we all know by now, the luxury market was hit hard by last year’s economic collapse. Despite what some snide fashion-haters would tell you, the industry in fact does affect people at every level of the economy, and Louisiana’s alligator farmers are just the most recent people to feel the pressure as a result of tough economic times, according to The New York Times.

It would follow logically that reduced retail sales have lead to a drop in international interest in exotic skins, of which alligator is among the most expensive, but the farmers tell it a bit differently. According to them, it’s all Hermes’s fault.

The economic progression of alligator skins goes something like this: farmers on the American Gulf Coast, mostly in small operations in Louisiana, harvest eggs from natural habitats. 12% of the hatched gators are returned to the wild, the others are raised for their skins. Tanneries buy the skins from these small farmers and process them in order to be suitable for the manufacture of watches, handbags, and other various and sundry luxury goods. When they’re done being processed, luxury manufacturers purchase them and turn them into the asininely expensive things that we know and love.

Once upon a time, those three were completely separate from each other, but then Hermes started buying up tanneries. Now they’re the biggest tanners in the business and are therefore able to control the flow and prices of alligator skins in ways that were previously impossible, according to the farmers. Hermes is now its own middle man, in addition to being the middle man for a huge swath of its luxury competitors.

The farmers think that that may indeed be the cause of their current problems. Prices for raw alligator hides have dropped precipitously, to the point where its not profitable for some operations to continue raising the animals, and many skins go unsold completely. On the other end of the equation, non-Hermes luxury brands complain that the cost of tanned alligator skins has risen so much that it’s almost no longer profitable to use them in the manufacture of things like watches and loafers because consumers are unwilling to keep pace with the rising prices.

Well isn’t that odd? If my memory of freshman econ serves me correctly, prices shouldn’t be way up on one end of the supply chain while prices are rock-bottom at the other end. Something’s going on in the middle, and many people posit that that something is Hermes’s tannery ownership. The farmers accuse the company of hoarding the skins for themselves, making the purchase of finished skins prohibitively expensive for other brands, which makes overall demand for untanned skins (as well as prices) drop on the farmer’s end.

Hermes representatives claim that they only buy up about 30% of the available gator skins, but one has to wonder if that’s really the case, considering the disparate price problems coming from farmers and competing luxury brands. Or maybe 30% is enough to throw the entire industry out of whack and give Hermes a significant competitive advantage. Either way, something is going on that may wipe alligator off of the luxury market completely if things don’t change. Except for at Hermes, of course.

Original story via NYTimes.com
Image via TheOnion.com

Original post by Amanda Mull

There truly is something magical about New York City. Whether it is the constant commotion, the noises, the history, or the people, New York City remains an epicenter of the world. Our trip to NYC in October was for business. Lucky for me, our business revolves around shopping, and that we did.

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After not lucking out with a Balenciaga bag, we took a trip to the Hermes store. I must preface this because a couple of months previous to our trip I had a dream about a black Birkin. In my dream I owned a 35 cm Black Birkin and it was perfection and I spent every mili-second of that dream telling everyone how perfect the bag is to me. Fast forward to our NYC trip and my dream came true. We left the Hermes store with a 35cm Black Clemence Birkin, a personal holy grail.

    

Like with most expensive designer brands, prospective Hermes shoppers want to know whether the money for their products is well spent. For me, the answer is a definite yes.

We decided to splurge this time and stay at one of the most recognizable hotels worldwide. The Plaza Hotel, located in the heart of Manhattan on the corner of 5th Avenue and 59th Street, ranges among the most famous hotels in the world. After being closed for renovation, the Plaza Hotel re-opened with a star studded bash and a newly designed and refined interior. All this new luxury comes at a high cost. As with Hermes, is it worth the price? We like to believe that it is.

Celebrating this opportunity, I took my Hermes collection to NYC, sans my precious Kelly Longue which was greatly missed. Not only did The Plaza offer fantastic accommodations after a long day scouring bag designer showrooms, but also the perfect canvas for photos of my Hermes babies. Venturing throughout the hotel, we quickly discovered the many special touches that were incorporated during the redesign process. From the doorknobs to the hallways, to the elevators, the hotel offered plenty of Shutterbag opportunities.

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We spent an hour each day exploring the hotel and tried to take in every aspect of it. The first time I knew I wanted needed to stay at the Plaza Hotel was after watching Home Alone 2 many years ago. If you happened to visit during the same week we were, I am sure you saw us walking around with my three Hermes bags, posing in hallways, snapping in the bar, by the pictures, on the chairs. In the end, we created one of my favorite photos ever, A Family Portrait.

We promised more to the story of my new Hermes Birkin and many more pictures, so here you have it. To win your own Hermes Birkin, make sure to enter our giveaway.

Until the next Hermes purchase…

Original post by Megs Mahoney Dusil