1. Black and White Stye Icons via My Inspiring Dream

2. Vintage Magazine Cover: Interiors Magazine

3. Paolo Navone’s Parisian Flat

4. Book shelves

We recently increased some of the prices on our custom ordered bags.  There were many reasons for this, which I won’t go into again here.  In short, custom bags are expensive to manufacture in Italy and we needed to raise the prices so that our super high standards didn’t slip.   But now, we have different news – some of our leather prices are going down and we’re passing the difference on to you.

We tend not to use the sheen, original matte and glossy leathers for stock bags any more, because although we love them, they smell great, they wear in beautifully and suit lots of different styles of bag, some of the colours of sheen and original matte (not glossy) can be a bit delicate and mainly we’ve just moved on a bit from our original leathers and we are using more expensive ones.

They are also not as readily available as they used to be.  We have many other customers who love them, though, so we have kept them as a BEC option and for those customers we now have some really good news. Since this is an older item, the tannery has dropped the prices on these leathers and now we can pass these savings on to you.  The prices of our in-stock bags and all future custom-ordered* bags in sheen, matte and glossy bags will drop by up to 20%.

*Please note, this applies to future orders not yet placed.  It does not apply to all styles, since some styles are already so low in price compared to the production cost that they cannot be lowered further.*

UPDATE: By delicate I mean that these leathers are not highly treated and thus they can show some signs of wear a little more than say a pebbled leather might.  If you prefer a leather that does not patinate at all and does not show any marks, this leather is perhaps not for you, especially not in the light pink or light grey, or other light colours.

Red chevre with all the different lining colours we have available to order

As many of you will know, spring 2011 ushered in a new era for Belen Echandia.  Several months of research has paid off and we now have access to the best chevre leathers available – chevre is goatskin, in case you’re wondering.  These skins are small, which means that we can buy them in small quantities for our custom-ordered bags.  They are soft and they come in lots and lots and lots of colours.  Being small and being goat, they are more expensive than our usual skins.  But the quality and the feel of these leathers is amazing.  The Belen Echandia BLACK collection was born.

For the avoidance of doubt, there are various different kinds of chevre. Some are more matte, some are shinier, some are more hard wearing and plumper than others.  Some have a bubble texture or deep veining, others are so smooth you might mistake them for butter.  I personally prefer something with texture as the most buttery lambskins can be a bit classic and delicate for my taste, especially in colour. But who cares what I like, the point is, there is something for everyone.

To give you the chance to try it for youreslf, throughout the month of August, we’re offering all purse forum members and all Belen Echandia customers the opportunity to try our chevre skins in any colour for the same price as our premium crash and metallic leathers.  This applies to custom orders only.  Not all types of chevre are included.  Please email Aimee-@-belenechandia.com or janelle-@-belenechandia.com (removing hyphens) for more information.

For those who don’t yet know, Rose is taking a sabbatical for personal reasons.  We are very sad to see her go and we know that many of you will be sad too, but we hope that you will warmly welcome our new member of staff, who is all the way over in Hawaii!

Janelle Walters has been training with Rose for the last few weeks.  Janelle is a long-term customer and fan of BE, so she knows all about our bags and our service – many of you may already know her.  We asked Janelle to take a picture of herself and set up a little interview to learn more about her.  She created this great collage and sent over this warm response.  Welcome Janelle!

• You’ve told us a bit about yourself in pictures, please tell us a bit more about them and what each one means to you.

The pictures of the scenery with the bright blue skies, palms, ocean, and waterfall signify my love of the water and the place where I live.  Hawaii is often called paradise and that is a pretty accurate description!  I included a few “modeling” shots of the styles that I love and a picture of my little white Maltese.  I also snuck in a couple of personal photos which show the center of my world-my three beautiful children and  my most favorite person in the world (a.k.a. cute husband!) and I from our wedding.  We were dancing to a classic Sinatra song as our first dance.  You’ll also notice a cup (probably filled with a fragrant jasmine dragon phoenix or matcha tea) with a fun saying, “If the tiara fits wear it.”  Mugs and tea cups are one of my favorite things to collect.  While I do actually have a beautiful tiara from my wedding packed away, this is just a fun reflection of part of who I am.  I love pretty things, being pampered, and have a major obsession with shopping and fashion!

• We love dogs and so do lots of our customers. What is the name of your puppy?

I have a furry white, seven pound Maltese who is about a year old.  I fell in love with him instantly and though my husband really didn’t want a dog at the time, he bought him for me (and all of his supplies-eek) while I cuddled him and decided on a name.  Cosmo!  Cosmo loves to play but he thinks he is a human and turns his nose up at other dogs.  We need to socialize him more at our neighborhood dog park!

• You’ve obviously been a big fan of Belen Echandia for a while J. Which are your favourite styles, and what are you going to try to convince us to do more of now that you’re working for BE?

I love arm carried satchels like the LA Tote, casual bag, Make Me Smile, and a good messenger bag like my current favorite anthracite Covet Me with the gunmetal hardware.  Did you know that it also looks great on the shoulder if you shorten the strap as much as possible?  I love this bag!  I’m going to try to convince BE to do more arm carried bags with short rolled handles since boston bags are my long standing favorite.  Being of mixed Asian descent and going from a fair to more tanned complexion through the year also means that I struggle with color.  I hope to contribute some color suggestions that would work for those of us who hail from sunny cities and sport tans and also those with the typical Asian skin tones.

• Anything else you’d like our customers to know about you? They are surely all excited to meet you.

I’m a total foodie but also am very into healthy, clean eating for the most part.  I love to read, cook, and bake and am very hands on with my children and all of their lessons, along with the virtual charter school we chose to enroll them in.  I’m also sort of obsessed with cardio and weight workouts!  Since I was little, I’ve always been described as a “people person”.  Some of my strong core beliefs include the importance of honesty and always giving others the benefit of the doubt even if you don’t understand their intentions at the outset.  Treat others as you wish to be treated.  My spiritual beliefs shape me.   Although I may be a realist, I consciously choose to have an optimistic view of life and of others.  I really am just so grateful to be exactly where I hoped I would be at this stage in my life and I’m excited to bring my happy enthusiasm to BE while getting to know all of you better!

In this, the second part of this series, I’m going to talk a little bit about more how we start with a sketch and end up with a bag.  This time we’re looking at the L.A. Tote bag from our summer 2011 handbag collection.

These bags at first glance may look exactly the same, minus the front pocket, but they are in fact quite different.  For a start, the first bag we made from these sketches was big.  No, not big, huge!  The dimensions made it very deep and boxy, too boxy to sit comfortably against the body or be worn as a shoulder bag.  All Belen Echandia bags must be comfortable to wear, it’s essential, so  I didn’t like the shape or size of the first sample bag at all… but only because the dimensions were wrong.  I also wasn’t keen on the front pocket. In the sketch it looked kind of stylish, but in real life it looked like it had been tacked on to the bag as an after thought.  Here is the first sample bag:

Exterior pockets were a must on this bag, though, since I use mine a lot: for my bus pass, or gym card, or whatever I need handy.  Belen Echandia bags must also be practical as well as chic!  I want to find things quickly in my bag and I’m sure that you all feel the same.  Whilst pondering this I thought about my London Tote bag (mine is black super soft snakeprint) and how I love the slip pockets on the outside.   They are so useful for getting everything in and out.  So I suggested to the design team to try adding slip pockets to this bag style and remove the “stick-on” pocket, which by now was bothering me more and more each time I looked at it.  I also changed the dimensions.  I know that our customers (and for that matter most women) want a bag that can be worn comfortably against the body, something which doesn’t jut out excessively.  So we narrowed the bag right down and went for the next sample.  We made that sample bag in cornflower blue and although these are not professional pictures by any means, I will share them with you for the sake of completeness (this sample has now been sold, thanks for all your enquiries).

When we received this next sample we wondered if it was now a little too small.  Hmm… a few discussions later we realised that the problem was not the overall depth but the shape of the side.  It need to be a little bit deeper at the bottom (just a bit) so that it would taper up nicely.  The bag already fitted nicely both on the shoulder and the arm and we all loved the adjustable strap.  Here’s the piece that Marco cut. As soon as I saw it I knew that it was just perfect. I would love to hear your thoughts!

And here below of course is the final bag.  It is super soft and slouchy. It can be arm carried or worn on the shoulder. It can fit a lot but also be worn with not much in and still look good.  And of course, it has a very handy pocket spanning the outside of the bag, inspired by our very own London Tote pockets in a moment of genius .

Truly one of my favourite bags ever.  Should you like our design aesthetic and want a Belen Echandia handbag for yourself, thank you! You can buy one here:

We believe in balancing incredible products with a WOW experience, and the most affordable prices we can.  We have a gorgeous product and unique service and all our bags are made in Italy, the way a luxury product should be.  We don’t cut corners with either of those things.  So for the first time since we introduced our custom service, we have revisited our prices.

As you look around, you’ll see that some of our prices haven’t increased at all and others have only increased a bit.  In all cases we have raised our prices only the amount necessary to keep offering you an increasingly excellent quality and service.  For example, the I’m Beautiful has raised by quite a lot because the amount of materials used and all the small details make it a very expensive bag.  Our first priorities are amazing customer service and a well-designed, carefully made, ethical product.

Have you bought from us before?  Great, as appreciation for your loyalty and support we are “grandfathering” the prices for you for a short period of time.  Here’s how that will work:

1. If you have purchased a bag from us in the past, then until June 1st 2011 you may purchase a bag using the old price list. Please email us to request this price list.

2. If you have purchased 2+ bags in the last year, then until August 1st 2011 you may purchase a bag using the old price list. Please email us to request this price list.

*Please note that all bags must be produced within this time period.*

Thank you so much for your loyalty and support as we strive to invest in our quality and services to evolve our great business into an even better one in the years to come. You, our loyal customers are our highest priority.

If you have feedback or questions we would really like to hear them!

Jackie and the BE team. XX

Prophetik’s Autumn/Winter 2011 fashion collection opens the shows at London’s top independent venue, Vauxhall Fashion Scout. This catwalk show was an extra special experience for me as I was granted backstage access and even received a makeover!

Tennessee poet and Prophetik designer Jeff Garner believes in producing items using all organic and sustainable materials. His aim is to bring awareness to how clothing is produced, dyed, and distributed.

I began my day with backstage access to where all the action was happening. The Academy of Freelance Make Up (AOFM) are the official makeup artists for all shows taking place at Vauxhall Fashion Scout this weekend, and I was lucky enough to score my own makeover.

AOFM is an association comprised of some of the world’s leading makeup artists who teach their industry experience and know how to new talent. These artists form the AOFM Pro Artist team.

The look of Prophetik’s show was a light foundation, natural lip, and orange/green eyes. A senior artist demonstrates each look and graduates are then given the go-ahead to duplicate the look on the models. After my makeover I met AOFM director Jana Ririniu (on the right)- he approved of my new look.

I headed to the next room where the team of Toni & Guy were creating runway perfect hair.

This is when I ran into talented stylist Rebekah Roy, who was creating the runway looks. I had to introduce myself, as she is a long time friend of Jackie. We had a quick chat about her Pewter I’m Beautiful, and how she hopes to acquire something from our Spring 2011 collection.

Prophetik’s show was named “Artist Wonderment”-  the court of Louis XV inspired the collection, when art became frivolous. Gowns feature heavily in all-natural plant and earth based hues of white, black, deep scarlet, burgundy, and plum. Each garment is dyed with plants and herbs. Rebekah advised me that it took four dyes to get the plum colour from blended madder root, rumex, logwood, and indigo.

The runway was filled with ripped silks, organic velour, and 100- year old southern quilts. Jeff’s Grandma Garner handed this down to him, and one of the jackets in the collection is even constructed from Jeff’s childhood quilted bedspread.  Jeff introduced a new fabric this season- cactus silk- , which is made from the agave plant. The showstopper of the show was definitely the finale dress, which was made from ostrich feathers and hand stitched onto silk. These feathers are shed naturally twice a year.

Internationally acclaimed violinist Analiza Ching, and award winning conductor Benjamin Ellin and his orchestra performed the music for the show.

“Renaissance Art is not a rebirth as one implies, but freedom from the past, unconcerned with what has been said or done, living in the present with an immediate relation to all things…seeing and feeling and discovering the senses.

Achievement does not birth beauty but raw effort confessing its own failures and in that confession is the beauty of Art.”
Attention to detail was spot on- the press release was even printed on 100% recycled paper.

Prophetik is stocked in high-end boutiques around the world including Fred Segal and My Sugarland. Visit their website for more information.