In the late 1990s, the Fendi Baguette bag started a fashion frenzy.

Part of documenting fashion is acknowledging the desire and anxiety certain items induce. If ever there was an object designed to seduce us, it was the “It-bag.” As the original “It” girl, Clara Bow demonstrated at the beginning of the 20^th century, the quality of “It” is both absolute attraction and elusiveness. If that sounds like a euphemism for sex appeal, Sigmund Freud – in his work deciphering the language of dreams – considered handbags to represent female genitalia.

To most devotees, these expensive and easily recognizable designer signatures convey a right-time-right-place sense of status that is the source of their appeal. With that in mind, its hardly surprising that the lust for “It-bags” directly corresponds to periods of economic boom. The most recent era of handbag hots began in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the average American women reportedly bought more than four statement piece purses annually.

Who could forget the impact of Sex And The City’s Carrie Bradshaw and her Fendi baguette? Recently reissued to coincide with the launch of a new book Fendi Baguette, the bag – available in over 1,000 versions – quickly started a fashion frenzy. According to the show’s star, Sarah Jessica Parker, Fendi was “the first important design house to loan us items,” and the introduction of the baguette allowed the fashion loving character to develop into the style icon she became. “It really opened the floodgates and influenced the storyline – especially Carrie’s habit of spending more money on fashion than her home.”

In 1956, a photo of Grace Kelly, who had become the new Princess of Monaco, carrying the Hermès Sac à dépêches bag to shield her pregnant belly made the “Kelly” bag hugely popular.

But this isn’t a recent phenomenon. In 1935 Hermès created a top-handled leather bag called a Sac à dépêches as part of their leather goods range. When Princess Grace wanted to cover her baby bump with her Hermès bag – these were the days when star’s pregnancies were not a career boosting media opportunity – the photos were splashed all over the world and made it onto the cover of Life magazine. Hermès quickly renamed it the Kelly bag, and it became hugely popular.

The “Birkin” bag was born when Hermès chief executive was seated next to Jane Birkin on a flight from Paris to London, he watched as her straw basket overturned spilling its contents onto the floor.

Another Hermès design, the Haut à Courroies was created for free-spirited Jane Birkin. Known for toting a straw basket because she was unable to find a weekend bag large enough to suit her needs. The “Birkin” subsequently became and remains one of the most desirable and widely recognized handbags in the world.

She can’t have heard the “It-bag” trend is over… Victoria Beckham is said to own 100 Hermès Birkin bags thought to be worth more than $2 million.

By 2008 the “It Bag” was no longer in fashion. While there will always be some who can afford bags known eponymously – Birkin, Paddington, Motorcycle and the Alexa  – the rest of us know that the real beauty of fashion is mysterious and deeply personal, our accessory’s determining us individuals rather than part of the crowd.

In 2007 Actress Angelina Jolie, and her daughter Zahara were photographed carrying matching Valentino purses – was this image responsible for the end of the “It-bag” trend?

Want to catch up on some more fashion history?

Now & Then: The History of Flared Pants

Now & Then: The History of the Ballet Flat

Now & Then: The History of Shorts

Now & Then: Met Ball’s Most Memorable Dresses

Now & Then: The History of the Breton Shirt

Now & Then: The History of the Platform Shoe

Now & Then: The History of Fitness Wear

Now & Then: The History of the Pencil Skirt

Now & Then: The History of the Cocktail Dress

Now & Then: The History of Skinny Jeans

Read more Now & Then articles here.

The post Now & Then: The ‘It-Bag’ appeared first on EcoSalon.

Not so straight laced: Whether you decide to vamp it up in black lace or play modest in white, different colored lace can symbolize either sophistication or naïveté.

One thing you can be certain of this coming wedding season, is that the bride will be wearing lace. If last year’s royal wedding wasn’t enough inspiration, the white-hot trend for lace in ready-to-wear means the delicate openwork fabric is the summer’s signature detail.

The mysterious stranger in black lace.

Soft and feminine, lace – the word itself derived from the Latin laqueus, meaning loop or noose – is never far from the surface of women’s fashions. Lace production first boomed in Europe during the 1700s. Handcrafted needle-made lace was not only a labor-intensive effort, but also involved high amounts of personal skill. Worn as a sign of prestige and wealth, it was among the most valued of a household’s possessions. Some periods of history since then have been more lace obsessed than others, but the strong feeling for it this time around speaks to our growing desire for heritage styles with long-lasting heirloom qualities.

Lace-loving royal brides: Britain’s Duchess Catherine and Monaco’s Princess Grace dazzled in white-on-white bespoke lace.

Beyond expressing itself precious, lace is unique for its ability to embrace the betwixt and between, to narrate an ambiguous sense of femininity that is best told as a story where opposites are free to meet. Can you think of another fabric that encompasses two such opposite ends of the spectrum as readily as lace does? Both traditional and modern, demure and sexy, girlish and womanly, it’s no wonder it’s so popular with royal brides, Madonna and Italian designers, Dolce & Gabbana.

Madonna in her “Like A Virgin” punk phase was shocking in 1984 in a not-so-virginal white lace.

Chantilly, eyelet, guipure, laser cut, appliquéd on canvas or crocheted on cotton, lace in all its many forms was spotted on many designer’s spring/summer runways. Available in white, black, red, lavender and lemon, the variations and connotations possible were as endless as they were easy.

Free spirited Jane Birkin out on the town with Serge Gainsbourg, wearing a low cut white lace dress.

Now & Then: The History of the Platform Shoe

Now & Then: The History of Fitness Wear

Now & Then: The History of the Paisley Print

Now & Then: The History of the Pencil Skirt

Now & Then: The History of the Cocktail Dress

Now & Then: The History of the Trench Coat

Now & Then: The History of the Bold Brow

Now & Then: The History of the Cuff

Now & Then: The History of Turtlenecks

Now & Then: The History of Tights

Now & Then: The History of Skinny Jeans

Now & Then: The History of the Chevron Stripe

Now & Then: The History of Penny Loafers

Now & Then: The History of Go-Go Boots

Now & Then: The History of the Poet Blouse

The post Now & Then: The History of Lace appeared first on EcoSalon.

Does the return of gloves this season require us to reconsider what “lady like” means?

On July 1, 2011, Daphne Guinness – whose visionary and eccentric style has captured the imagination of the fashion world – staged a mock funeral wake to debut her much-anticipated design, a glove made in white gold chain mail. Handmade to fit her arm completely, it features intricately articulated fingers and more than 5,000 diamonds creating decorative birds along the arm.

Posing in an Alexander McQueen bodysuit, Guinness lay motionless at a mock funeral with the armored glove revealing the essence of her style.

Named Contra Mundum (or Against The World), Guinness explains, “It’s sort of us against the world. It’s about wanting to watch, but not wanting to be seen. I feel it’s a pact, if that makes any sense.” The glove is at once an incredible testament to the handmade – considered to be one of the most technologically advanced pieces in the world it’s worth an estimated $1.76 million dollars – and reveals the core message of Guinness’ style iconry – the concept of fashion as a form of armor, protection for a delicate soul.

With winter’s icy temperatures chilling our extremities, you may be pulling on a (more affordable) pair yourself this month. But beyond their functionality, gloves have long been understood as an accessory able to translate the cultural expectations of women.

It’s the subtle interpretation and manipulation of what gloves can mean, that make them such fascinating fashion watching.

From their early history, gloves were emblems of status and power, worn by royalty and the aristocracy. Taking on a symbolic importance in the chivalrous middle ages, they were used as a form of guarantee, thrown down as a challenge and given as a token of affection from a lady to a suitor.

Have you ever tried to do anything with gloves on? It’s difficult. But women then found a way around the problem by slipping their hands out of the finger-part, and popping them out the opening. To this day they are a cultural signifier that remains shorthand for class. And it’s the subtle interpretation and manipulation of what that can mean, that makes them such fascinating fashion watching.

The last interest in gloves was in the middle of last century, their power cleverly manipulated by actress Grace Kelly.

Grace Kelly, the ice princess ideal of 50s womanhood was famous for her white gloves. Even then – at a time where rebellion hellions such as Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and Elvis Presley were emerging –  the “lady like” gloves appeared to be a throwback to an earlier time. But in an era where many female star’s careers were manhandled by big studio bosses – Kelly’s cleverly calculated image of austerity and steely resolve unnerved her MGM bosses and secured her freedom from roles that required her to “wear thirty-five different costumes and look pretty and frightened.”

Gloves in fashion now. Models in Christian Dior opera gloves. Harper’s Bazaar Spain, December edition.

It was a glove affair on Fall’s 2011 runways. Designers including Alber Elbaz, Frida Giannini at Gucci, Miuccia Prada, Jean Paul Gaultier and Donna Karan ushered in a season of forties glamour revolving around a new on-the knee skirt length replete with conservative pearls, shrugs and gloves. The mid-length opera gloves seen at Lanvin had a surprising modern look, conveying power and strength – the “lady like” characteristics now essential for life as a woman in the 21^st century.

Now & Then: The History Of The Cocktail Dress

Now & Then: The Trench Coat

Now & Then: The Bold Brow

Now & Then: The History of the Cuff

Now & Then: The History of Turtlenecks

Now & Then: The History of Penny Loafers

Now & Then: The History of Tights

Now & Then: The History of Skinny Jeans

Now & Then: The History of the Chevron Stripe

Now & Then: The History of Go-Go Boots

Now & Then: The History of the Poet Blouse

The post Now & Then: The History of Ladylike Gloves appeared first on EcoSalon.