Bags are unique as fashion accessories. They are not required to enclose a part of the body, which has allowed freedom and inventiveness over the centuries, resulting in creations which are not mere fashion items, but works of art. This phenomenon has reached its logical conclusion in recent years, as brands collaborate with fine artists such as Tracey Emin and Marc Quinn to produce bags that would not look out of place in a gallery, which is indeed where they can be seen in the V&A’s new exhibition, Bags: Inside Out. But it is not only their aesthetic appeal that can be compared to art. Classic creations by brands like Hermès, Chanel and Dior are increasingly being appreciated for their investment potential.
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“We don’t really wear bags, we carry them, so they have this degree of independence. They can be designed in very unusual ways, which is how they can easily become a dog, a frog or a little conker,” Lucia Savi, curator of the V&A’s exhibition, tells BBC Culture. “There is a surface which can be decorated or painted on. It’s almost like a blank canvas to work with.”
The frog purse from the 1600s is on display at the V&A’s Bags: Inside Out exhibition (Credit: Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford)
In the 17th Century, small bags known as sweet purses were exquisitely crafted in unusual shapes such as frogs, while the fashionable technique of filigree was used to create elegant purses which were often exchanged as gifts between aristocrats. The ‘reticule’ – which emerged in the 19th Century and is considered the forerunner of the modern handbag – had a flat surface, so offered the perfect opportunity for artistic expression. “There is a surface to be decorated so women would decorate them with patterns and flowers,” says Savi.
The appeal of the bag’s creative potential to artists is evident as far back as the 1930s
The witty and innovative designs from the 19th Century, which included bags in the shape of flower baskets, scallop shells and pineapples, influenced the trend for the incongruous objects which appeared in bag design in the 1930s. Designers such as Anne-Marie of Paris created wonderfully eccentric bags in the shape of telephones, champagne coolers and even radios.
These in turn had an impact on the jewel-like creations of Hungarian-US designer Judith Leiber, whose sought-after evening bags come in the shape of everything from bunches of asparagus to lipstick, and the British designer Lulu Guinness, whose flower-basket bags from the 1990s can be seen as a three-dimensional interpretation of floral reticule designs.
The appeal of the bag’s creative potential to artists is evident as far back as the 1930s. Hilde Wagner-Ascher, an artist and designer connected to the Vienna-based collective the Wiener Werkstätte, used the clutch as a blank canvas for her graphic designs. “She used a very common and fashionable shape but the decoration of it and the pattern of it are really representative of her involvement with the Wiener Werkstätte – the design movement that grew out of the Vienna Secession – and that type of aesthetic,” says Savi.
In recent decades this trend has accelerated as brands collaborate with artists to reinvigorate their classic designs. Louis Vuitton in particular has worked with artists, beginning with Stephen Sprouse and his neon graffiti bags, under then artistic director Marc Jacobs in 2001. Since then, the brand has worked with everyone from Takashi Murakami to Yayoi Kusama.
Note: This article is inspired from BBC, if you like European Designs, Visit Tasni MK to see purses and bags for sale in Skopje.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210119-the-extraordinary-handbags-that-are-both-fashion-and-art
