Bagfetish Unleashed!: Limited Editions

Showing posts with label Limited Editions. Show all posts

Saturday, January 31, 2009

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New Limited Edition LV Speedy

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

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Limited Edition Louis Vuitton Galliera Riviera

Sunday, August 31, 2008

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Newsflash: Louis Vuitton Limited Edition Damier 'Neverfull' Bag

Sunday, August 10, 2008

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Comme des Garcons - Louis Vuitton Handbag Collaboration

Press release from Louis Vuitton:

A beguiling and individual vision of luxury will take shape when Louis Vuitton opens an impermanent store inside Comme des Garçons in Tokyo on 4th September 2008.

The idea for the project emerged from the memories of Comme des Garçons founder Rei Kawakubo. In 1978, as a young designer, she saw the first Louis Vuitton store to open in Japan and was fascinated by the image of French craftsmanship and art de vivre it projected – a luxury that seemed to her, at the time, unattainable. Three decades on, Rei Kawakubo wanted to revisit her impressions, and so the association between Comme des Garçons and Louis Vuitton was born. Intriguingly, Louis Vuitton is celebrating this year its 30th anniversary in Japan.

Rei Kawakubo has dedicated and re-designed the entire Comme des Garçons store on Kottodori, Omotesando especially for Louis Vuitton for the duration of the project, from 4th September through mid-December, into a space that will be a celebration of the Louis Vuitton Monogram. The fruit of this unprecedented collaboration – an exclusive collection of six one-off bags – will be presented in a minimalist space, at the centre of which will be a display of historic Louis Vuitton trunks. Inspired by her memories, Rei Kawakubo chose the legendary Monogram canvas to create two Party bags, small evening purses with outsized natural leather handles. The designer also customized two classic Louis Vuitton bags, endowing the Papillon with kawaii animal charms and the Mini HL with multiple slender handles. Lastly, Louis Vuitton is reediting two iconic designs from the 1970s – the Petit Marceau and the Sac 2 Poches – which Rei Kawakubo is likely to have seen in the windows of that first Louis Vuitton store.

[Mini HL w/multiple slender handles]

The bags will only be available upon order, which is only to be placed at the “Louis Vuitton at Comme des Garçons store”. No telephone or Internet orders will be taken. In return, customers will receive a certificate inside a special card holder in Louis Vuitton's traditional natural leather, embossed with the Louis Vuitton at Comme des Garçons signature. Only several months later will their bag be delivered to their chosen Louis Vuitton store. Other iconic Louis Vuitton Monogram bags, such as the Speedy and Alma chosen by Rei Kawakubo, will also be on display and available for immediate sale inside this special “Louis Vuitton at Comme des Garçons” store.

Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton Artistic Director, who has long been an admirer of Comme des Garçons, comments: "It is impossible to overstate Rei Kawakubo's influence on modern fashion. I find it wonderful to think that, thirty years ago, this immense talent, someone who has inspired so many others, was inspired by Louis Vuitton, and now that inspiration has now been realized."

Yves Carcelle, Chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton, says: "This project not only brings a new meaning to luxury, but also speaks volumes about how the know-how and heritage of Louis Vuitton have always been perceived in Japan, including by its foremost designers. We are very proud to have been able to help Rei Kawakubo relive her memories in such an original and creative way."

Rei Kawakubo, President of Comme des Garçons, says: "These are party bags to celebrate the 30 years of Louis Vuitton in Japan. In designing them, I have kept Louis Vuitton's traditional concept as it is, but sometimes two handles become one, sometimes two handles become eight... It has been a remarkably exciting opportunity for me to have been able to participate in Louis Vuitton's traditional design and heritage."

Photos courtesy of Louis Vuitton

Saturday, August 9, 2008

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Prada 2008 Olympic Games Collection

Sunday, July 27, 2008

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New Louis Vuitton Monogramouflage Collection

Thursday, July 24, 2008

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Newsflash -- Coach's First Global Flagship Store in HK!

Style: Redefining Design
A store that mimics apartment space
By Anandhi Gopinath

"Organised chaos", Reed Krakoff, president and executive creative director of Coach, says authoritatively. “It’s designed to look like organised chaos.” The scene before him is a huge rectangular table covered with jewellery, bags, purses, umbrellas and shoes.

The American leatherware company was launching its new global flagship store in Hong Kong in the company of a huge gaggle of regional journalists. The first thing that greeted us when we stepped in from the pouring rain outdoors was a warm blaze of colour atop a plain glass table. It was as if a young girl was getting dressed to go out, and not knowing what to wear, she had put all her stuff out on her dressing table. Cluttered, yes, but it was a deeply appealing display, nevertheless. The oohs and aahs could be heard from a mile off, and the high-wattage smiles of approval easily outshone the recessed lighting above.

As it turned out, the description wasn’t too far from the truth as Krakoff went on to explain that the store was in fact designed to mimic the apartment space of a very young, trendy girl living the New York lifestyle.

The latest of 13 stores on the highly populous island, Coach’s new home is special. What Krakoff calls the “newest iteration of our flagship prototype” featuring “the newest, most up-to-date collections”, the new global flagship store is to be a huge brand-building tool for the American leatherware brand.

Taking a step away from their usual minimalist style, Krakoff and the Coach Architecture Group designed the 9,400 sq ft store to look a little more cluttered than is their usual way. The lower level consists of most of their newer products, arranged in a colourful array across the store. Classic pieces, like the Bleecker tote bag, sit next to the jewellery collection, which is just beside the counter for Coach’s new fragrance. Unveiled in conjunction with the launch, this is the first release of the fragrance outside of the US market.

A curved, white staircase dramatically leads upstairs; where there are special pockets of space dedicated to particular lines of shoes, eyewear and outerwear. White sheepskin rugs break the monotony of the shimmery marble floor, breaking into private spaces to try on the vast variety of products that lie about. Many of us stopped to admire our reflections in the custom-lacquered, antique mirror with oxidised nickel silver accents, and rest our not-so-weary bodies on custom-designed furniture placed generously all over the store.

It was becoming easy to understand the design philosophy Krakoff was referring to; we felt we were in someone’s trendy home rather than just a retail space. Yet, the respect for tradition is also distinctly apparent. For example, between the bags that are strewn about on the shelves, we see oversized gold turnlocks, a model of the clasp that is an icon of many Coach bags.

Downstairs, there is what Krakoff calls a legacy wall, which features illustrations of New York, old posters, the brand’s horse and carriage logo, images of the current campaign, sketches and anything at all that serve as ideas for the current season. Which meant the wall would always have something new to add as newer collections arrive at the store. Everyone was deeply impressed, as Coach’s Queen Street store had achieved a retail feat few stores manage to do — it had become warm, welcoming and real.

On the outside, Coach stands tall in the midst of the Queen’s Street clutter, with its glass and stainless steel backlit signature façade; it proved to be such a hit that tourists and Hong Kong residents alike were seen taking pictures outside the store that were sure to end up in some holiday scrapbook or on some mantelpiece somewhere. It had to be said that the location that Coach chose was a brilliant fit to the younger market Krakoff said the company was also trying to target — barely a hop, skip and a jump away is Lan Kwai Fong, the island’s elite clubbing area.
“In general, as we go forward, our stores will have a more residential feel; they are warmer with more decorative elements and are generally friendlier to shop in… that’s definitely the idea here,” says Krakoff in his trademark drawl. “We combined the idea of it serving as a retail space, and as a typical New York apartment.”
The new design of the store is the first of its kind in the world, hence Hong Kong residents are extremely proud to have the vastly popular American brand test out the new idea in their city. “The timing was great, really. The consumer here really appreciates anything new and anything fashionable. It was a great way to cement our position here. It’s also a geography we’re focusing on in the future,” he says.
Which is appropriate for them to do, considering that the brand, taking its cue from other luxury brands, has realised that the greater China is where the money is. “Hong Kong is an important destination for Coach as it is the gateway to Asia. Hong Kong is a leader not only in business, but also in fashion and lifestyle,” says Coach Inc chairman and CEO Lew Frankfort. According to him and Ian Bickley, president of Coach International, the brand intends to open another 30 stores over the next few years in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China and Macau, as they have identified Greater China’s potential to quickly become the third major market for Coach, after North America and Japan.

In Asia, Coach has taken on a more aspirational positioning. “We do compete with the bigger European brands, but that happens globally, not just in Asia. What’s happened is that our product lines have become broader and broader, and we still intend on doing that to compete at low and high-end levels,” says Krakoff.

The lines that have come out of Coach in recent years have been attributed to Krakoff’s revolutionary direction of the brand. Hired in 1997 from Ralph Lauren, Krakoff was given total creative control to oversee everything from store concepts to merchandising to product design. Eleven years later, Krakoff has hit his stride with a series of cult-status bags, expanding the product lines (Philip Lim designs trenchcoats for Coach while New York milliner Eugenia Kim does hats) and of course, designing fantastic new stores. Known as the Lagerfeld of his time, Krakoff has reinvented the slightly stoical image of Coach and made it cool.

Yet, he says, he relies on a slightly arbitrary design inspiration. “It’s a hard thing to talk about because it’s not deliberate. It’s very iterative and experiential... one thing always leads to another,” he muses. “You have to go far in one direction, then far in another direction and see how it feels. You start to build a vocabulary of stuff you can work with. When I first started at Coach, there wasn’t much — one type of leather, one material, that’s it. My next step was to develop fabric and material ideas, hardware ideas, signature detail… and the brand just grew from there.”

Each product led to yet another collection, as the brand extended from bags to shoes to outerwear. Coach took its time to do this, as Krakoff is quite specific about letting things take their own course naturally. “Each product leads to the next, and you can’t do them out of sequence. There’s a time frame for everything, and we do it accordingly at each place,” he says.

Personalised details like this exemplify the personality of the brand, as each market is treated individually. For example, when the store was opened in KL, Krakoff designed a beige limited edition satchel exclusively for the market. In Hong Kong, two new products were also launched. “People here love fashion so this was fun for me,” says Krakoff. “They love new brands and new ideas, they like to shop, so it was fun to design this sort of store and the limited edition products.”

To be able to walk into a store and feel welcome, to be able to find anything from jewellery to key fobs to bags — whether you’re male, female, teenager or adult — takes a special sort of skill. It’s redefining traditionally held perceptions of what is stylish and what isn’t, or disregarding the it bag phenomenon for something that a customer would want to own forever.

It’s a redefinition of style in every sense of the word.

The Newborns
The Perry limited edition Ergo satchel in python and the MyNY tote, the two new products created exclusively for the opening of Hong Kong’s new global flagship store. Coach will also be donating RMB1 million and a portion of the store’s first-month sales to the China Red Cross Fund in aid of the Sichuan earthquake victims.

Coach Perry Limited Edition Ergo Satchel in Python, price unavailable

Coach MyNY Tote, US$1,000

Courtesy of The Edge Daily

Monday, July 21, 2008

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Splurge of the Week!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

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Limited Edition Fendi Palazzo Print Logo Tote - Out Soon!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

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Newsflash -- 100 Limited Edition LV Neverfull Bags

Monday, June 30, 2008

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Splurge of the Week!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

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Leather Totes That Spell Style

Brand's Latest Bags Also Available In Denim Canvas

FASHIONISTAS, rejoice! Coach, one of the international leading brands in handbags, has come up with a new line of handbags for spring, with emphasis on high quality crinkled patent leather, tumbled pebbled leather and denim canvas.

The brand, famous for its floral totes has come up with straw totes, perfect to complement your look in the spring mood.

Under the Bleecker Collection, the line features burnished accessories with a distinct vintage feel. Also in the same line is the Bleecker Denim Canvas Floral Tote, which is inspired by the feel of a leather shop from the 70's.

Unique: The Bleecker Denim Canvas Floral Large Tote

Still playing with straw material, for those who like to have one-of-a-kind item, there is the limited edition Bleecker Straw Millie XL Hobo that features Coach's iconic dog leash closure.

One of a kind: Bleecker Straw Millie XL Hobo Bag

The main highlight in the spring collection is leather, as used for Legacy Thompson Collection and Soho Collection.

The Legacy Thompson bag that comes in rich natural leather is adorned with a floral appliqué and accented with antique brass hardware.

Meanwhile, Soho Leather Satchel has detailed shoulder straps and buckles that give the bag a vintage feel. Clean lines and a relaxed look showcase the softness of the leather.

With brass hardware, the bag comes in rich white for this season.

It is clear that natural shades is the main colour for this season, as evident with the Ergo Collection, featuring Ergo Pleated Hobo and Ergo Pleated Tote. Both styles offer delicately pleated leather and come in a rich palette of natural, white, burnt orange and black.

Not to be subdued by the natural shades that are dominant this spring, Coach also has the Leather Madison Clutch from Madison Collection that gives a splash of standout colours such as fuchsia, teal, gold and black. The clutches are adorned with turn-lock closure.

To complete the spring look, also available is the Jewellery Collection. For this season, the collection expands to include elegant pieces in Resin and poured glass. Necklaces, rings, bangles and earrings are offered in combinations of white and gold.

The new Coach's Spring 2008 Collection will be available at all Coach stores nationwide in April.

Written by Nurbaiti Hamdan [Fashion, StarMetro, Friday, 29 February 2008]
Courtesy of The Star Newspaper