How to Protect Leather Bags & Shoes

Just after posting about my favourite bags for next season, I came across this nifty guide for taking care of your favourite bags and shoes. If you are planning to invest in a designer bag for autumn/winter, I’d definitely recommend following its advice – that labour of love can make all the difference to whether your favourite pieces last.

Caring for leather from Dedicatedfolloweroffashion

To keep you inspired, I’ve chosen four lust-worthy leather accessories; look after them carefully (find special instructions for the jewellery) and they’ll become an essential part of your personal style.

Large metallic and leather clutch, Proenza Schouler

Fan necklace, EABurns

Medium metallic belt, MM6 by Maison Martin Margiela

                  PH Junior bag, mariaLamanna

The Best Bags: Our Wishlist for AW 13/14

The new season might not start for another few months, but here in London it feels as if summer has already come and gone (remember that one week of mild sunshine in April?), so we’re more than ready to look ahead at what AW 13/14 holds. And although the ‘it’ bag idea has waned since the days of Chloe’s arm-aching Paddington, clutches and totes are still what we get most excited about every year.

This is our AW wishlist – we’ve concentrated on the fashion heavyweights for now, and saved the more avant-garde labels for later. But we couldn’t decide whether it was better to splurge on a daytime bag or a knockout clutch, so let us know which is your favourite!

For a fresh twist on a classic carryall, look to Mulberry. They updated a handful of their signature styles for AW by adding glossy, polished hardware into the mix. We love how something as simple as a new handle can bring this satchel brilliantly up to date, but it’s still a timeless look that won’t date. For a bolder statement, grab it in textured lemon leather – we can picture Alexa carrying this at LFW.

This furry, cross-body bag from 3.1 Phillip Lim brought a riot of colour to his runway show, and gave more than a nod to AW’s ‘fun fur’ trend. But the mannish handle – it reminds us of a proper briefcase – and substantial size give some gravitas so the frivolity of the fur. Transitional it’s not, but if you’re looking for a bag to surmise this season’s statement trend, the one that AW 13/14 will be remembered for, this is it. 

Ignore Burberry’s heart prints – great on Cara Delevingne as she stalked down the runway, but a bit kitschy for real life – and concentrate on their jewel tones instead. Colourful, brilliantly textured pieces are what Christopher Bailey does best, after all. Our favourites include this burnt orange box clutch with an industrial gold frame, and the mini satchel in luminous blue. It looks like hardware and satchel shapes are going nowhere at Burberry as well as Mulberry.

This graphic clutch from Jason Wu is a sartorial game changer, perfect for adding impact to a monochrome outfit (head-to-toe black or white looks are making a return for AW). The rounded stud details are punky and rebellious, but still look sophisticated against this minimalist shape and light tomato hue. With a clutch this size, we’re not sure who’s going to use the wrist strap – grab it with your hand instead, and keep the rest of your ensemble streamlined.

Jen Kao’s multidimensional clutch combines warm, Autumnal berry tones with a futuristic feel. It’s these unexpected contradictions that have earned Kao a reputation for wearable but highly dramatic design. She reminds us of Isabel Marant, but without all the embellishments; there’s a shared understanding of what women really want to wear. This clutch is subversive – it shows that modern doesn’t have to mean minimalist - but at the same time it would work with anything.

All images from www.style.com.

Nailing It

Three years after Wah! Nails kick-started our nail art obsession, with their clashing prints and tiny painted-on designs, the trend is still gathering pace.  We’ve seen handpainted animal patterns, the shattered effect, nail wraps designed to match specific looks from the runway, and the Ciate caviar manicure, which sold out as soon as it hit the Selfridges shop floor.

This year, the focus has been more on intricate finishes and topcoats – probably inspired by the Ciate manicure, which left nails looking as if they’d been sprinkled with hundreds of tiny pearls. First Illamasqua brought out their speckled-effect polishes just in time for Easter, with spring-fresh shades of blue, pink and pistachio eggshell. Now this month we’re buzzing about YSL’s tie-dye topcoat. Not, as the name suggests, an easy way to do nail art inspired by trippy, hippy tie-dye, this polish is more for creating a graduated ombre effect, going from glittery to almost clear. Worn alone they create a subtle, glossy effect, but we prefer layering them over a solid basecoat for a more dramatic look. You can shake it up for a more consistent finish if you prefer, but that seems less fun.

Meanwhile Nails Inc, who have a reputation for being first to the scene when it comes to new textures and finishes, have added a ‘feathered’ effect to their collection. In four multi-dimensional colourways, we weren’t sure the result looked feathery so much as densely textured, but we still loved it. We’d like to see it used as the background for a nail design, but for those without a steady hand it’s a quick substitute for more elaborate nail art. Our favourite colour is York, a summer-ready combination of coral and peach, but there’s also Edinburgh (blue and orange), Chester (green) and Cornwall (cobalt blue). 

The New Raffia - SS13's Key Accessory Trend

Image: www.dolcegabbana.com

Dolce & Gabbana’s campaign imagery is always heavily evocative. But for SS13 they took their iconic Sicilian glamour to a new level, mixing it up with beachside stripes, patterned headscarves and this season’s unexpected hit: the raffia bag.

M Missoni
Image: www.net-a-porter.com

Reinvented with a sense of carnival frivolity, this new take on raffia dispels all association with the humble picnic basket. At M Missoni a pair of embroidered lips sealed the deal on a striped shoulder bag, while Anya Hindmarch teamed the textile with delicate shell details. At once electric and nostalgic – who doesn’t associate raffia with high summer? - these bags subscribe to the ‘more is more’ philosophy. A fiesta mood crept in at Balenciaga, too, with a colour-splattered weave on a classic clutch.

Dolce & Gabbana
Image: www.farfetch.com

Back at Dolce & Gabbana, every runway look was more extravagant than the last. Festooned with 3D florals, ornamental padlocks and hot house embroidery, the bags unquestionably stole the show. Their intoxicating colours and penchant for raffia spilled over onto shoulder-grazing earrings, two-tone belts and helter-skelter wedges – the Dolce girl embodies sun-soaked drama from head to toe.

But there’s more than one way to do raffia this summer. For a more minimal take on the trend look to Pierre Hardy’s block heel sandal, finished with buttery black leather, or break out Burberry’s Whipstitch bag with its individually plaited ribbons and alligator trim. Diane von Furstenberg added metallic sheens and pastel shades to her woven clutches, while Lanvin incorporated raffia into a jewel-toned, multi-textile tote.

Reiss
Image: www.reiss.com

The High Street is following suit with a host of revelry-ready pieces that beg for a festival outing. But why not turn expectations on their head, and pair raffia accessories with a more sophisticated look? Anthropologie’s jewellery adds new-season excitement to summer staples, and Reiss has brought out a pair of watermelon-pink raffia heels. A punch of sun-bleached basket weave – the one-time reserve of kitschy tourists – has made a high-impact return at every level. Have fun with it while it lasts.