Bartley’s Bananas
Bananas make me laugh.
They are a funny shaped fruit in a funny colour and monkeys chomp on them. Yes, bananas are very funny – and that is one of many reasons why this purse got a firm hold of my attention.
It’s the Leather Satchel With Charms from Miss Luella Bartley – a glossy black leather purse with silver hardware and gorgeous little charms hanging off it.
Now the banana charm you know of, and can see quite clearly – but there’s also an adorable anchor charm of the type that usually only graces bulging sailor- biceps.
A heart charm completes the look (really, could any charm-object be complete without a heart charm?), with more leather hearts adorning the sides of the purse.
It’s a very Luella-ish purse in the sense that it’s edgy and funky with a strong, almost wacky sense of fun and amusement about it.
Most fruity!
SRP $1,650.00
Bluella
Luella Bartley is only going from strength to strength with the design and quality of her purses – they’ve become extremely popular, and no wonder.
This lovely blue shoulder bag is a great example of a very ‘in’ purse from Luella Bartley’s ‘Luella’ label. It’s made of buttery-soft leather, with a suede lining and silver hardware.
The little padlock on the front reminds one of the Chloe Paddington bag, with a tiny "Luella" etched into it.
It’s a very fun purse for discovering stuff — like the adorable little heart charms, or the sneaky little pockets on either side…
What’s not to love?
SRP $1295.00
Luella
Former fashion journo-type Luella Bartley clearly deserved her Young Designer Of The Year at the Elle awards 2000 — this range of hangbags is absolutely positively gorgeous.
We have the classic Baby (see below)/Jazzy Gisele designs which will last a lifetime in anyone’s closet thanks to their extremely cute vintage charm, but there we also have really vibrant, fun colours (like the Mini Gisele in Prune up there). The colours really are good enough to eat — and it’s usually really hard to get away with those shades without looking tacky… yet she pulls it off.
So, I love Bartley’s range. She clearly doesn’t take a po-faced approach to design — she has great imagination and feel for colour which yes, she should have seeing as she’s a designer but so often, especially with newcomers, there’s this pressure to not go outside of the box, just in case it all goes to hell.
Quality is as excellent as you would expect… fine leather and lovely stitching, kind of like Lulu Guinness crossed with Hermes with a hint of Marc Jacobs… this is the kind of purse your little sister would steal from you to take to school and show off to her friends.
Luella’s bags can be bought from Browns in London, or net-a-porter etc.
