Whilst a decade of “It” bags have the come and gone with Baguettes, Paddingtons, Indys, Spys,and Stams, there remains a few historic handbags which will be forever in fashion. Two of which belong to the luxury label Hermès, with their world famous and exclusive Birkin and Kelly bags.
The Hermès Kelly Bag takes its name from movie star Grace Kelly, the former Princess Grace of Monaco. Along with its sister the Birkin, the Kelly bag enjoys a cult status.
The handbag first appeared in the 1930s but was thrust into the fashion limelight in 1956, when Princess Grace used a black crocodile Hermès bags to shield her pregnant stomach from the prying eyes of the paparazzi. Photographs of her hiding her tummy with the now-famous bag, were beamed all over the world, and made it onto the cover of Life magazine. Given her status as a fashion maven, Grace Kelly’s Hermès bag fast became a sought-after symbol of elegance and was consequently renamed after her by the high-fashion house Hermès.
Although other Hollywood stars carried this iconic bag, (such as Ingrid Bergman and Marlene Dietrich) none had the same impact as Grace Kelly. The Kelly bag now enjoys a cult status and is a modern day moviestar in its own right, featuring in recent TV and Hollywood movies such as Sex and the City and Le Divorce. Together, with its sister, the Birkin, they have become two of the most famous designer bags of all time. Victoria Beckham is one of the modern day celebrities famous for her Hermès Birkin and Kelly collection.
Prices for a modern day Kelly begin from approximately £20,000 but the bag has has a waiting list of around 3 years. Each bag offers a classic 2-straped trapezium-shaped frame with 4 studs acting as feet, so the bag can easily be placed on the ground.
Kelly bags come in 5 different sizes and are usually made from crocodile, alligator, ostrich-skin or plain leather. According to Miller’s guide, they are identifiable by their distinctive metal-tipped clasp, which can be closed with a tiny padlock. Swathed in leather, the clasp’s hidden key often dangles from the handle.
In Anna Johnson’s Handbags, The Power of the Purse, Johnson points out that a 1956 Hermès Alligator Bag took 2 alligators to make a Kelly, with the exotic skin culled from the reptiles’ jowls and the belly.
Johnson details the finer points of the making of a Kelly bag; the fact that it takes a single craftsman around 18 hours to produce one of these beauties.
Once the hand-cut skins (selected by personal customer order) have arrived, they are laid out, resembling a mini-dress and the lining or the bag is hand-sewn in. The base of the bag is then created, using waxed linen thread and a tough double-saddle stitch, where perforations are painstakingly made into the leather. The following step is the creation of the handle and then the front flap is stitched and added to the body of the bag. The clasp and the four feet at the base of the Kelly are then fitted and the famous padlock added.
The inside of a Kelly bag is as beautifully and as painstakingly made as the outside, an honored tenet of Hermès, according to Pendersen. The bags seams are smoothed, dyed and waxed.
Interestingly, the penultimate finishing touch involves the Kelly being ironed, to get the wrinkles out the skin. The very last touch is to christen the bag with the famous Hermès Paris logo, and another Kelly bag is born.
One of the most memorable, recent Kelly bags is the early ‘90s Hermès Silk Scarf Kelly, a beautiful design of silk florals, based around the famous scarf. In the year 2000, to celebrate the Millennium, heir of Hermès, Jean-Louis Dumas, added a touch of humor to a limited edition Kelly (named Quelle Idole aka Kelly Doll) by transforming the Kelly into a doll; with a face, and arms and feet sprouting from the body of the bag.
Nowadays, according to Miller’s Handbags — a Collector’s Guide , vintage examples of the Hermès Kelly change hands for large amounts of money. An early 1960s crocodile Kelly, for example, would be expected to fetch anything from $3,000 – $6,000 at a top auction house.
Read about Hermès Birkin
Official website : http://www.hermes.com/
Did you know that you can generate dollars by locking selected pages of your blog or site?
ReplyDeleteTo start you need to join AdWorkMedia and use their content locking tool.