In Fashion’s Clutches
When handbag designer Judith Leiber visited her signature boutique in South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, recently, more than 200 women tried to squeeze inside the 500-square-foot store in a frenzied effort to meet the creator of the coveted bags.
That women would greet Leiber with the same adoration as a celebrity shows how seriously they take their purses.
A handbag isn’t only a functional accessory but also a fashion statement on a strap, the exclamation point to one’s ensemble. That’s especially true of evening bags, which can make or break one’s party attire. A dull-looking sack can drag down an outfit just as a jeweled box or a sleek satin envelope can transform a plain dress.
For this year’s holiday soirees, women can find evening bags in every shape and material, from Leiber’s crystal-pave minaudieres to kitschy vintage purses.
Bags from the ‘40s and ‘50s have become the cool thing to carry to clubs and parties. The Front End in Newport Beach, a vintage clothing store, carries translucent Lucite purses embellished with rhinestones, seed pearls, filigree and other ornaments. There are also slick patent-leather rectangles (in colors such as eye-popping orange), beaded sacks and hard-metal baskets. The bags range in price from $25 to $200.
“I always carry a vintage bag. I like a lot of ‘40s stuff,” said Natalie Tass, owner of the Front End.
Party purses typically express the wearer’s personality. They’re only marginally functional.
“It’s all about fashion,” said Tami Schwerdtfeger, buyer for Spanish Fly at the Lab in Costa Mesa, which has purses shaped like half-moons, hatboxes, foot-and-a-half oblongs, giant cubes and small bowling balls.
“Everyone has her own taste. The ‘50s girls like the hard Lucite purses. Those into the club look might go for vinyl rectangles. I carry a big glitter purse in which everything could fall out of at any time,” she said.
Ladies Lounge in Newport Beach also caters to club-goers bent on standing out from the pack. The boutique has purses that look like miniature bowling bags, bags covered in fur and colorful plastic grassy stuff that resembles Astroturf, and huge boxy bags that unzip to reveal tiny compartments for holding a few small personal effects ($12 to $60).
“For a party, you want a small little purse,” said Michelle Ponce, owner of Ladies Lounge. “Some girls just carry cigarette cases. They can fit their I.D., some money and a cigarette. That’s what I do. That way when you go out, you’re not asking people, ‘Can you hold my purse?’ ”
Many of Leiber’s bags are just large enough to carry the barest of necessities.
“What do you carry for an evening out? A compact, a lipstick and $100 in case you have a fight with your husband or boyfriend,” Leiber said.
Her purses are primarily for looks. At Orange County’s swanky galas, there’s usually one or two on every table--never tucked under one’s chair--so that all can admire the crystal-encrusted violins, tulips or Faberge-inspired eggs.
“They’re conversation pieces,” Leiber said. “Seeing one starts a whole series of reminiscences. They’re great if you’re shy because you don’t have to say anything.”
While best known for the hard metal minaudieres with their mosaics of Austrian crystals, Leiber makes evening bags out of all kinds of materials, including antique American quilts, hand-embroidered ribbons from Bombay and sashes from Japanese kimonos.
“We use crazy materials,” she said.
She finds ideas for new bags everywhere. A trip to an antique store, where she admired an old quilt, led to her collection of bags cut from old quilts and embellished with crystals. A Lalique plate inspired her star and moon purse. A friend whose husband is an arctic explorer suggested the penguin purse.
Leiber recently introduced a swan, currently her favorite bag: “It was a big problem to get the neck to look right. I’m not making a giraffe because I wouldn’t know what to do with his neck.”
Designer Stuart Weitzman has created bejeweled bags to match his evening shoes. Among his handbag motifs: a woman walking a Scottie, a hand flaunting an emerald ring and a black bag with a crystal-studded sun and moon ($275 to $1,800).
“What’s popular for the holidays is a basic black peau de soi bag with a little crystal hardware,” said Darlene Gardner, manager of the Stuart Weitzman store in South Coast Plaza. One style features a crystal pave bow clasp ($488).
“It looks like it’s gift-wrapped,” Gardner said.
Evening bags come in all prices. While a genuine Judith Leiber or Stuart Weitzman can fetch hundreds or thousands of dollars, purses without the big designer names sell for much less.
At Beverly Hills Bag Lady in Laguna Niguel, one can find evening bags for under $50 in assorted geometric shapes, including cylinders, pyramids, octagons and A-frames, and in a variety of materials from pearly lucites to silky microfibers.
They may not become collectors’ items, but they’ll do for a night on the town.
