The "It" Bag That Isn't
Poppy Harlow interviewed Anya Hindmarch for Showbuzz Style during New York Fashion Week.
A subtle yet distinct aroma of gardenia greeted me as I opened the door, quickly followed by the greetings of three smiling assistants. I had just entered Anya Hindmarch's temporary showroom for New York Fashion Week, in a converted suite on the 23rd floor of the fashionable Bryant Park Hotel.
A large white leather handbag positioned importantly on a pedestal in the entrance caught my attention first, and only after that did I notice the view of the Empire State Building straight ahead, framed perfectly by a window.
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I had arrived a bit early for an interview with designer Anya Hindmarch. While I waited in a room adorned with samples of the Fall 2007 collection, I realized that attention to detail is not only in her handbags, it is in every facet of the Anya Hindmarch company.
Hindmarch greeted me warmly—not the usual thing in the fashion world, especially in the chaos that is New York Fashion Week. She had just finished a telephone interview and was ready to move on to her next—ours.
"I designed that one in 1988," Anya said, pointing to my cream leather Carker bag as we sat down. I had proudly purchased it weeks before, naively thinking it was a new creation—the it bag of the season, perhaps.
"We've always been quite 'niche' in a way," says Anya, "that's the personality of the company." This niche approach rather than mass production and marketing lends Anya Hindmarch bags, and the collection in general, staying power. She believes too much advertising can have a negative impact. There's no luxury in having the same bag as everyone else at lunch.
Hindmarch is most passionate about uniqueness and personalization—what she calls the DNA of a brand. Her DNA includes a signature bow and one or more tassels, and other personal touches such as a hidden key for a bag's front pocket, or a silkscreen of a 50s icon on a coat lining.
This desire to be personal and unique is the common thread that ties it all together. Each of the Bespoke Ebury bags, designed in celebration of the company's 10th anniversary, has a different personalized message for the recipient tucked inside.
Hindmarch began designing at 18, not long after her mother gave her a Gucci handbag. Her first designer bag made a big impression about the impact that a single accessory could have. For the next 20 years, during which she became a wife and mother of five, she went on to create bags intended to give other women that same wonderful sensation.
The Hindmarch collection expanded slowly. Before introducing a line of shoes, she spent a year in Venice studying the craft with Venetian shoemakers.
She calls her latest addition "accessories in clothes" – a line of sweaters, jackets, swimwear and straw beach hats that are intended to accompany her bags.
The personalized Hindmarch "be-a-bag" first caught the attention of many customers. Women can send in photographs and have them printed on a handbag, wash bag or diaper bag. Celebrities first jumped on board. Soon, a woman could carry around a tote imprinted with a picture of her prized Chihuahua.
"Fashion isn't saving lives, it's to be fun," Hindmarch says.
Maybe not, but Hindmarch tries to do her bit. The company is now selling a tan tote bag with the words "I am not a plastic bag" embroidered in chocolate brown. It sells for about $10 (her other designs range from around $200 to $8,500). Her hope is that people will use this bag in place of the 167 plastic bags that the average person uses every year. (A plastic bag can take up to 500 years to decay in a landfill.)
What began as a small London-based handbag company now has 30 stores worldwide, with 17 new boutiques opening in the next year in Asia, Russia and the Middle East.
Despite the rapid growth, Hindmarch wants to keep her products personal and niche. That's why you'll usually find her boutiques on a small side street, just off the main road.