I have these in Cinnamon, Jade and Gold. They are very well designed with several internal and external compartments and pockets. They are also light. The leather is gorgeous – soft but also tough. After I bought these, Francesco Biasia redesigned the handles so they were flat and floppy. These are gorgeously plump and sturdy. The plaited handles on the cinnamon one looks like gorgeous pasty!
These can be easily found for various (low) prices on eBay and other outlets. I have chosen to feature this seller as he has so many different colours for sale, and 100% feedback. But a search will find you many more.
You can use these in your ringed organizer by using bulldog clips to fasten them to the rings (see below). You could use it as a flyleaf in a matching or contrasting colour. Or just a colour you like – my vote is for teal and purple!
Credit cards go in the front and notes or coins at the back.
Gorgeous Texture. Photograph by Yvonne
Gorgeous texture. Photograph by Yvonne
I have two of these bags – one is medium sized with short handles and the other one is large with long handles.
I have never been able to use them as handbags. I need a more structured bag with proper internal or external pockets – these just have one small slip pocket inside. Everything also falls into a heap at the bottom.
But for travelling there is nothing better.You can pop one or two into your luggage (they are light and don’t take up any space when folded) and use them for day trips or to carry excess purchases home with you. They are also very tough and waterproof and, for a ‘designer’ handbag, the price is very good.
Well, there is nothing to say except that Romilly is a big girl! Roxanne will fit A4 with its flaps up but not when they are down. And it is a big bag but for me, not quite big enough. I have never been able to travel with her as she is not big enough for plane essentials.
Both of these bags are made from exceptionally beautiful hides. They go from smooth to ultra grainy. Ironically, I did not choose either of these myself. The Roxanne was chosen by the sales assistant at Heathrow Duty Free (my husband bought it for me) and the Romilly was bought second hand from Labels Most Wanted. But they are stunningly beautiful leathers. The Roxanne has been in heavy use since 2006.
A weight comparison – empty the Roxanne weighs 1340g and the Romilly 2000g
This rare and very hard to find model came from Labels Most Wanted. It is just beautiful. Way better than described and matches my Roxanne perfectly! A very big girl but just what I needed and I have been hunting for one for years! Thank you Louise for the wonderful service and product!
Someone asked me for a reveal of the contents of my makeup bag a while ago. This has taken so long as the contents of my makeup bag are very uninteresting and my makeup bag has very little makeup in it.
I hardly wear any makeup (lipstick, mascara, eyeliner) so my makeup bag contains everything I need to keep my students and myself comfy during the long days.
From left to right:
I travel light!
Below is a photograph where I am wearing more makeup than usual. It was at a concert to celebrate King Carl XVI Gustaf‘s 40 years on the throne. The whole royal family would be there so I wanted to look better than I usually do. I probably had foundation, blusher and eyeshadown in addition to my usual lipstick, eyeliner and mascara.
I wore a dress and shoes I found at a vintage store about two hours before the event, a lucite bracelet I got free in a magazine as a necklace, and a red pashmina.
These are really lovely bags. At one stage I bought many many bags from Lush. They are cheap, the quality is excellent and their service is quick – 3 days door to door. They do good interpretations of currently popular bags so if you are wanting to buy the very expensive version it is always good to try one of these first. They are not mirror copies but the proportions are pretty accurate. I have written about my Lush collection before here
I have two of their biker bags – one in orange and one in brown. The brown one is very well used as you can see. It is about nine years old. The orange one is slightly newer – about four years. I like orange because it can be used year round, and looks as good in autumn as it does in spring. You can find many of these bags still for sale at Lush
This also came from Lush and is a gorgeous burgundy colour. Not too heavy despite the detachable metal chain.
I am pretty much a bag snob. I tend to go for more edgy older or very new styles and don’t really like the ‘clean’ look, without any detailing at all. For this reason, I never really paid much attention to the Filofax Charleston handbag when it came out. It looked like a Bayswater but without any visible clasps or rivets.
Chrissie has one and loves it which is why I had another look when I saw that agendashop had them on sale. And then one popped up on auction on Bouteia and I was the only bidder. Got it for a brilliant price!
When it came it was very well packaged in a huge box, then a Filofax dustbag (with handles and poppers). Inside was a very well-protected Charlesto which had never been handled, opened or used. All the pressure points were protected by foam and it was stuffed with acid-free tissue paper.
This is a lovely bag – two over the shoulder straps which can also be used to carry the bag over your arm or in your hand. Outside is a magnetised flap where you can keep a magazine, newspaper or A4 papers. Inside are two sections divided by a full-length zippered compartment. Across the inside front of the bag are four pouches for phone, pen, and whatever would fit. Because of the structured shape, nothing falls into the bottom of the bag in a heap and everything stays upright. There are four studs on the bottom. The bag is also very light.
All in all this is a very professional and versatile bag. I can imagine this in the boardroom as well as at the movies. If you use it with jeans or a floaty skirt it would translate well into your private time as well.
If you like the look of this bag – and having used it I can definitely recommend it – have a look here, where agendashop has them on special. If you like the look of any of the full-price bags, use the code FILOJANET at checkout to receive 25% discount until 31st May.
Came in an enormous box but postage was only €12
Gorgeous dust bag with handles and popper studs
Beautifully protected with foam on the handles and cardboard over the top
Stuffed with tissue paper (lots of it). You can see the fantastic pockets here – there are four wide ones and a narrow one for a pen
Five feet under the bag to keep it clean
Filofax logo
Filofax logo
Side view showing the gorgeous graining
Brown Filofax Charleston Handbag and Brown Filofax A5 Charleston Organiser
Modalu handbags have had a sudden surge in popularity lately, even though, due to the below, Pippa Middleton no longer carries one.
I love the handbag – the bigger version and the two zips really make it a style right up my alley. Unfortunately the conditions under which they are produced make them something I will not carry.
I often read the Daily Mail Online because they tend to get news out to the rest of the world first. It may be badly written and for a certain audience that (to put it mildly) may not quite be me, but for some reason they are really quick off the ball. I think they get the news and throw it onto the web without any sub-editing or in-depth analysis because they want to get the news out fast.
Their articles often make good discussion topics for my students too because their point of view is often extremely provocative and the language is fairly easy to understand for non-native speakers. I actually use many of their articles as proofreading practice for my students – they have to find all the factual, grammatical and spelling errors within a set time limit. Despite the fact that my students are non-native speakers, they usually manage!
However, the article below was better written and researched than usual. A little biased against Pippa maybe but whichever way you look at it, Modalu do not come out so well. My questions going into this are:
Will Pippa will stop using them?
Will Modalu comment on this?
I wonder how Primark’s clothes are manufactured – are the workers paid less than the Modalu ones because it is Primark or paid more because of good employment agreements? When H and M got into similar hot water they blamed subcontractors for subcontracting the work out even further to make money. Are workers allowed to unionise?
Here is the Modalu site – they really market themselves as a high-end brand. You wouldn’t think that the workers who produce these £200 bags are being paid £1.30 a day. I love these bags and I was about to buy one when I read this article. Somehow now I just can’t. I am 100% sure other things I own were produced under worse conditions so this probably makes me a hypocrite of note. But Modalu went down in my estimation after reading that article and doing some fact-checking on my own.
A year later and it seems that things have not changed much. I did some research on my own on this and while they are definitely NOT sweatshops and there is probably no child labour, the workers are paid a pittance while Modalu charges heavy prices for their wares. Naturally, wages are lower in India, but nothing excuses paying workers just over £1 a day to make a handbag that you charge your customers hundreds of pounds for.
I realize that you cannot pay certain workers about twenty times the going wage in a country. Then again, moving this production away from India to a country where workers are generally paid better would mean these people have NO jobs at all.
To avoid myself being tortured by thoughts like these, a Pippa is not in my future. I cannot even admire them when other people have them. And when I do look at them and wonder how the person who made it lives and if they have enough food to eat or enough money for a doctor for their children, then I start imagining how all my other handbags were produced. And my head just cannot take things like that.
This is a really heartwarming rags-to-riches, Cinderella tale. And the bags are fantastic.
A mother, unable to pay for school fees, decided to make satchels. No one she spoke to felt there was any demand for them anymore. But she persisted and her company is now worth millions and makes 900 bags a day!
I don’t have one of these bags (though I would love one) – mainly because they can be heavy but also because they don’t make many in the large size I would need. I also used one in a similar style for 12 years at school and about ten years at work. If I had to choose one I would choose a gold metallic one or a purple one.
The pictures for this post are on the bottom in case anyone just wants to read the article rather than wade through photos.
Here is The Cambridge Satchel Company online
Here is an article about them from The Daily Mail
The story below comes from fashionista
If you looked at street style blogs from fashion month (and we’re guessing you did), you surely noticed those fluorescent old school style satchels hanging from many a fashionable shoulder. You also might know that they’re from the Cambridge Satchel Company, and retail for under $135. An It-bag that’s actually within our means? We had to have one and we had to know more.
We found out that Julie Deane is the lady behind the Cambridge Satchel Company. She had no previous design experience before starting the company just under five years ago with only £600. This past year profits reached £2.2 million and next year the company stands to make between £10 and £15 million (that’s up to over $23 million).
So how did Deane do it? We hopped on the phone with her to find out. Hers is a true success story, born, of all reasons, out of the desire to remove her six-year-old daughter from a school where she was being bullied. She tells us about her motivation for starting the company, being knocked off by her own manufacturers (she’s pursuing legal action), and what’s up next for Cambridge Satchel (hint: think clutches).
What inspired you to start the Cambridge Satchel Company? Why satchels?
I had the strongest, most compelling of reasons: I started The Cambridge Satchel Company to earn money to send my children to a great school. My daughter, Emily, was being bullied. She is the brightest most sociable girl, but had become quiet and withdrawn. I had to do something, I was determined and that determination has been invaluable.
Satchels were popular when I went to school and I loved mine, and I was amazed to find how difficult it had become to get an authentic school satchel. I was on the look out as we were reading Harry Potter and there was no doubt in my mind that Harry and Hermione would have had a satchel, I wanted to buy one for my children but those on the market were poor imitations of the satchel I had enjoyed carrying. I hoped that I wasn’t the only one looking. I wasn’t!
How did you come up with the design and go about producing them?
I had no design experience but I just knew what a satchel should look like. To me a satchel should be uncomplicated, classic, not at all fussy, it should stand up and not sag or slouch–it’s a classic British design. I thought maybe if I went to leather working places–places that would make saddles for horses–I thought they’d know. It took me three months of traveling around and some devious thinking but I finally found a school in Scotland that still required their students to have satchels. So I kept phoning the supplier until they gave me the name of the factory. They made less than 100 a year. I was so excited that I had found a lead that I drove right up there [from Cambridge] and turned up on the factory doorstep. He said I think you’re really well meaning and nice but no one wants a satchel. But he made my first batch and I took photos with my children with them standing around Cambridge–and those photos were on my first website. I still work with this factory and have them manufacture as many as I possibly can because he’s been the nicest person to work with.
But others haven’t been so nice?
Well, the day came when that factory and the first ones I found weren’t enough to keep up with demand. I was told there was a leather working company looking for more work and they didn’t know how to make satchels. So I sent them to my first manufacturer, showed them how to make the bags, had a list of the machinery, and they were the ones who turned. I didn’t know anything about it and then one of their employees called me and said they felt they were getting dragged into something and felt weird and gave me name of a site and I was paralyzed. I told them all my plans, all my ideas and there they were on my computer screen [being sold by another site]. We’re pursuing legal action so it’s in the hands of the lawyers now. I had no choice but to withdraw immediately and take out our leather. But that was my main manufacturer–I was getting 800 bags a week from them, so suddenly I was 800 bags a week down. [If you ordered a Cambridge Satchel and waited a while to get it, now you know why.]
The satchel bags are a huge hit in the fashion world, especially in the neon colors. What inspired the neon palette?
We had a request for a fluorescent satchel and once we made one we sourced more fantastic colours–there’s another on the way. We have become known for these outrageous bags. There’s something very alluring about such a classic design in such a nonconformist colourway.
How has business changed since the neon bags became such a must-have item?
There’s now a shortage of fluorescent cows! Honestly, we have been bowled over by the response. This is a family company and to have such attention has been wonderful. Every bag is hand made, the work and craftsmanship that goes in to each one means they can’t be rushed and so we have had to suddenly increase our production capacity. Having been betrayed by our main UK manufacturer I decided to start manufacturing for ourselves, and now there is a Cambridge Satchel factory in the UK (near Leicester). Leather workers are hard to find, it was a dying craft in many ways but we will be working with local colleges to build apprenticeships and revive this type of manufacturing. I’m excited about the factory.
What comes after neon? Any new colors or patterns?
We have been making some metallic finish satchels for Comme des Garcons, ASOS and Urban Outfitters (UK). They are very exciting and have been exceptionally well received. Yes, new colors and limited editions in the works!
Do you have any plans to expand into other areas of design? A Cambridge Clutch Co. perhaps?
Yes! We will be introducing clutches and in 2012 there will be a new bag shape that fits perfectly with our brand.
The Metallic
I don’t carry my organizers in pouches. They go into my bag with all my other stuff. So generally they need to be quite hardy. I am not precious with them though, or paranoid about them getting scuffs, bumps or dents. I figure life is to be lived and if you live a life it shows on you. The same goes for my planners.
My motto is (with a little help from Hunter S.Thompson):
The exception to this will be my new, very precious, Mulberry double binder. This is so unique, so unusual and so absolutely amazing that it is irreplaceable. So I decided to find a cover for it. Because of its strange size I would have had to have a pouch specially made. So I decided on this cheap bag from H&M. It cost £20 but I had a £15 loyalty voucher so I got it for £5.
I would have preferred black but I like the cross grain saffiano effect, the gold hardware, and the detachable strap. The binder fits in there PERFECTLY! Because the strap is detachable it pops right into my handbags (which are generally large).
In my brown Filofax Charleston bag today:
These two bags are probably not the most practical but they are (to me anyway) works of art
Both by Christian Louboutin:
The Tinzita in Black
Layered Hobo in Black
Have written about this bag before here. I really like it for many reasons – it is light, hardy, waterproof, fits A4, stands upright, is well designed and has a firm protective base (similar to a Converse sneaker) which you can stand on the ground without compromising the rest of the bag. It is also not pricey.
This particular one is a wonderful combination of practical khaki and pretty pink, with large zipper details. It has both shoulder and hand straps, many useful pockets, padded sides and internal pockets for all kinds of things.
This bag would be brilliant for school, university, the beach and traveling. I had my previous one a long time and it was pretty hardy. This one came from Gifts With Style. They have lightning fast international delivery.
Changed into this old gal today as it is spring and I yearn for lighter colours. She is a big lady and probably the heaviest of my handbags but so well designed.
This was the Chloe version of the Mulberry Roxanne but is even better designed. There are double pockets outside and 2 A4 sided pockets on the side of the bag. I really love this model!
The little dangly ladybird (on the handle of my toiletry cupboard) is a USB stick
I was waiting until I had some time to really savour writing this. It is a RAK I received about a month ago from Madeline S. She had read in one of my blog posts how journalling quite literally saved my life and how important journals have been in my life. She also knows how much I love handbags!She wanted to thank me for helping her find her way around the groups when she joined.
I have it beside my bed and every time I see it I smile. I am going to begin using it from my birthday in July. Thank you Maddie from the bottom of my heart!
Gorgeous packaging – I am such a sucker for ladybugs!
Beautifully wrapped in sewing pattern paper and wrapped with twine.
Beautiful handwritten letter, sealed inside this lovely envelope and sealed with a pearl bead.
A beautiful beaded handbag turned into a journal
Look at this absolutely amazing bookmark!
And pretty pretty beadwork
Look at this detail! Everything done by hand.
Little cards hidden in secret pockets all over the journal.
This you can use to fasten little mementoes to the journal – ticket stubs, press clippings, tags, and labels
Plain pages embellished with a vintage earring
Another little pocket with cards on which to write special things
Bookmark
I am rather strange when it comes to clothes and accessories. If I see something I like once, I am interested, twice and I am curious. But thrice and I get bored. When something is ubiquitous I lose interest totally.
Sweden is a strange country, trend wise. Swedes are very cool and minimal and famous for their design. They wear mainly simple minimal designs in neutral colours. They are brilliant at jeans (Nudie, Acne, Cheap Monday) and Swedish companies abound in the international arena. BUT — when a trend hits in Sweden, EVERYONE wears it. I was told this when I came to Sweden but I didn’t quite understand it until I saw it happen before my eyes.
And this is an example of that. It is a brilliantly designed bag. And, for a designer’s diffusion line, not pricey. I love Michael Kors’ main line – in fact it features predominantly in my look book because it combines clean lines and bling. But as soon as I saw everyone was carrying one I didn’t want one.
But….yesterday I found this one mistakenly labelled 50% off in a sale. It is the newer Raspberry colour but was on sale as a Fuchsia (last season’s version). So I pounced.
As a bag, it is very well designed. Can fit over a shoulder, holds A4, and is made of hardy leather – less prone to scuffing due to the saffiano-like pattern pressed into the leather. And for me, the gold hardware is s huge plus!
What do you think?
