Justin Bieber helps inaugurate Anya Hindmarch’s Beverly Hills pop-up
You can fill up on Anya Hindmarch handbags, clutches and stickers at Barneys Beverly Hills this weekend, at the British accessories designer’s Service Station pop-up running through Sunday.
The designer was in town Thursday night to celebrate the launch at a party attended by Justin Bieber in a Hood by Air hoodie, Kiernan Shipka, Jena Malone, and stylist Karla Welch among others.
The Service Station installation, which has traveled to London, New York and Japan, is built around Hindmarch’s fall 2015 road crew-themed collection and features lots of cheeky, driving-related merch that SoCal motorists will appreciate. Among the selection: featherweight Ebury totes emblazoned with directional arrows; zip-around wallets with “No Loading At Any Time” graphics; box clutches that spell out “Slow Down;” and leather stickers, which can be used to personalize everything from a purse to a phone or notebook, in the shape of Stop, No Entry and Men At Work road signs.
There are also humorous gift items on offer, similar to what you might find in a service station, including Hindmarch-branded travel coffee mugs, fuzzy dice and biscuit-shaped key rings.
The collection riffs on the simplicity of communication with a nod to graphic designer Maggie Calvert, who created many of the road signs in Britain. It also plays into Hindmarch’s long-standing vision of turning the ordinary into the extraordinary in true pop-art style.
“Humor and craftsmanship have always been my focus,” said Hindmarch, who founded her business in London in 1987 at age 19.
Over the years, her hits have included Sweeties beaded evening bags designed to look like British candy packets, which were big on the red carpet early on, and today’s version, the sculptural metallic crisp packet clutches made using 3-D technology and modeled after Walkers potato chip bags.
In 2001, Hindmarch launched the “Be A Bag” concept, which allowed shoppers to turn a favorite photograph into a bag face, and in 2007, her $15 canvas “I Am Not A Plastic Bag” totes raised awareness about plastic bag waste and caused a worldwide frenzy. In 2014, she showed her Counter Culture collection at London Fashion Week, with totes and clutches emblazoned with Kellogg’s supermarket icons, including Frosted Flakes’ Tony the Tiger and the Corn Flakes clucking cockerels, kicking off a new phase of playfulness for the brand.
Her sticker business in particular, is booming. In July, she told the Business of Fashion that her luxury stickers, in the shape of smiley faces, “yes” and thumbs-up symbols, generated $18 million in sales in just two seasons. “They are the lipstick of the brand,” she said this week, admitting that as a kid attending an all-girls boarding school, she was a sticker fiend. “I just found all my old sticker books recently!”
The collection, which ranges from $70 for a sticker to $1,490 for a day tote, and more for bespoke pieces, is available at Barneys and at the Anya Hindmarch boutique at 118 S. Robertson Blvd. in Los Angeles.
For more fashion news, follow me @Booth
