JEANNE LANVIN

LANVIN designer handbags tall black patent leather tote kentucky bag. It's a tote or shoulder bag. It's the ultimate designer purse. A perfect find for the designer purse connoisseur. A tall black patent leather trimmed with black grain leather. Double rolled and stitched straps. Fully lined. Inside pocket. LANVIN silver and gold tone medallion hangs off one side of the handle. Black leather strapping completely around the top of the bag and down front and backside. Adjustable notches can be used to change the size of the bag. The Lanvin Kentucky bag measures about 14 x 13 x 5 inches with double straps about 20 inches each. The drop is about 8 inches. The Lanvin bag is called the Kentucky bag. It is constructed of patent calf veau verni. This model has been handcrafted with the most natural leathers and treated in order to respect their authenticity. The irregular aspect is inherited from the natural beauty of this leather.Guaranteed authentic. Comes with sleeper bag.

Lanvin is a Paris clothing label founded by Jeanne Lanvin. Jeanne Lanvin was born in 1847 and died in 1946. She was a French fashion designer and the founder of the Lanvin fashion house. Lanvin became known for her mother and daughter outfits and exquisite robes de style as well as her modern and global approach to the fashion industry. Lanvin was the eldest of 11 children. At age 16 she was an apprentice milliner at Madame Felix in Paris then trained at dressmaker Talbot and 1889 set up as a milliner at 22 rue du Faubourg Saint Honore. The House of Lanvin is one of the most famous Paris design houses of our time.

from The History of Fashion

Madame Jeanne Lanvin's active fashion career spanned 50 years from the 1890's up to the New Look just after World War II. In 1867 Jeanne Lanvin was born on New Year's day of 1867 in Parus, France. She was the eldest of 10 children of a pair of Paris journalist. She started her career at the age of 13 in the year 1880 at the hatshop of Madam Felix in the famous fashion street of Paris, the Rue du Faubourg Sant-Honore.. Then she trained as a dressmaker at a house called Talbot. In 1889 she started up her own millinery shop in the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore and added womenswear to her line.

In 1901 the Lanvin name was added toi the French Fashion Yearbook (or directory of designers) and she became very popular.. In 1895 Jeanne married the Italian aristocrat Count Emilio di Pieror. In 1897 her daughter Marguerite was born. She divorced Count Pietro in 1903. However, she remarried in 1907 to a journalist named Xavir Melet, who later became the French consul in Manchester, England, although Jeanne did not live in England much.

While making hats in the first decade of the 1900's, she also made dresses for a younger sister and her daughter. Lanvin's clothes came to the attention of other mothers with daughters, who asked her to make dresses for them, so in 1909 Jeanne began making dresses for sale (in addition to hats) and her reputation grew in Paris as a designer of mother-daughter fashions. As can be seen from the pictures shown here of early 1910's (Edwardian era in England) of the clothes she made, she made no distinction between women's and children's wear, the youthfulness of both being an important aspect of early 20th century fashion. Demand by young women for her clothes, persuaded Jeanne Lanvin to open a Haute Couture section of her house, selling very high quality -mother/daughter fashions. Jeanne's love of Botticelli, stained glass windows and Impressionist paintings was the inspiration for her romantic clothes. She dressed the Princesse de Lucinge, Sasha Guitry's four wives, and numerous other celebrities of the day. A tulle collar worn on top of a black daydress, is shown here.

The Lanvin Logo

Paul Iribe, the famous illustrator, created the Logo shown on the right, for the house of Lanvin, from a drawing by Jeanne herself stressing the bond between here as a mother and her daughter Marguerite (called by her ......) shown on the left. Jeanne Lanvin's daughter Marguerite was a beautiful child and young adult, adored by her mother, with a brilliant sense of style. Her mother loved to dress her in wonderful creations. In the early 1920's she made a very aristocratic marriage to a French Count. She was one of the leading fashion icons of the 1920's and 1930's. She changed her name to Marie-Blance abd became the Comtesse de Polignac, continuing to wear her mother's beautiful gowns. In 1913 Lanvin created her famous "robes de style" based on 18th century designs. These small waisted, full skirted dresses remained popular for many years and were fore-runners of the New Look which Dior brought out just after World War II.

In 1914 influenced by orientalism, she turned to exotic evening wear in Eastern-style velvets and satins. During the 20's Lanvin made a simple Chemise dress which later became the basic outline for the twenties. Over the following years, she introduced several interesting developments. In 1921 a Riviera collection introduced Aztec embroidery. In 1922 a Breton suit appeared in the Lanvin collection. This comprised a gently gathered skirt, a short braided jacket with lots of small buttons and a big white organdy collar turning down over a red satin bow. A sailor hat topped the outfit.

In 1919, just after World War I ended, Jeanne introduced what was called the "Wartime Crinoline". It was a big change from the Hobble skirt in fashion just a few years earlier (started by Poiret) and ladies preferred the new mid-calf length fuller skirt, with the waist in the proper place. One of her designs from 1919 is shown here.on the right. With this look, a parasol, a wide-brimmed hat and a fan were compulsory accessories if one wanted to be "de rigeur". Many of her evening gowns were fringed with monkey fur, ostrich, steel beads, velvet ribbons or silk tassels.

As the 1920's came in, dancing was the craze, so dresses got shorter, withe fringes at thehem, and a flatter chested silhouette was popular. Hair was much shorter than in the Edwardian decade and so the Cloche hat became popular. Headbands were also a craze to keep the hair in place while doing dances like the Charleston. Jeanne Lanvin kept up with all these new crazes by designing the clothes the young twenties ladies wanted. Jeanne Lanvin dressed film actresses like Mary Pickford, Marlene Dietrich and Yvonne Printemps in the 20's and 30's. She also had clients like the Queens of Italy and Roumania, and English princesses.

Her work was easily recognizable by her skilful use of embroidery and her fine craftsmanship as shown here from 1923. She used a particular shade of blue so often that it came to be known as "Lanvin Blue". For Jeanne Lanvin, women were meant to wear clothes of unabashed feminity, in colours that were pretty, and whose shapes had a "young girl" look. She often set the mood with narrow empire-waisted dresses and long trailing sleeves. In 1926 a menswear division was opened by Lanvin, and so she became the first couturier to dress whole families including sons and fathers. Her branches were opened in Nice, Cannes and Biarritz.

The fabrics that she used were silk, taffeta, velvet, silk chiffon, organza, lace, tulle, etc. She used a lot of free-flowing ribbons, ruffles, flowers, lace, mirrors, etc., and liked ornamentation like applique, couching, quilting, parallel stitching, and embroidery. The house of Lanvin, like all other houses, suffered throughout the 2nd World War, although she kept designing. In 1946, Jeanne Lanvin died at the age of 79. Her daughter Marie-Blanche took over the running of the house, till she herself died in 1958. Antonio del Castillo, a Spanish designer, joined Lanvin as designer in 1950 and returned the house to great success. He remained until 1962. In 1963 Jules-Francois Crahay, a Belgian designer, took over the reins of the house, and remained till 1984. In 1982 Maryll Lanvin, the third generation of the Lanvin family, started designing for the house. The Cosmetic giant L'Oreal acquired the house of Lanvin in 1990 and has appointed several designers thereafter.

During the 90's in addition to presenting his own collections, Claude Montana has also been designing for Lanvin. Giorgio Armani also designed for a while. From 1997 to 2001 Christina Ortiz was the chief designer for haute couture. From 1997 to 2001 Lanvin's ready-to-wear collections were being designed by ex-Versace, ex-Herve Leger designer Ocimar Versolato. In August 2001 an investor group led by Shaw Lan Wang, a Taiwanese media baroness, took over the house of Lanvin. They appointed Israeli-born designer Elber Albaz as the new creative director of Lanvin. His first collection was Fall 2002.

Alber Elbaz

In October 2001, the house of Lanvin announced the appointment of Alber Elbaz as the new creative director. His first collection was Fall 2002. Click on Alber Elbaz to read more about him.

Spring/Summer 2003 :

Alber Elbaz presented Lanvin's Spring/Summer 2003 collection in Paris in October 2002 which was very well received. This is an outfit from that collection. He beat the drum for Africa and produced a graceful collection of rugged linens, raw edges and proud heads.

Fall/Winter 2003 :

Alber presented the Fall collection for the house of Lanvin during Paris Fashion Week in March 2003. On the right is an outfit from the collection which had a ladylike-meets-military theme. Elbaz pushed delicate classicism towards an inspiring new edge. He used extravagant materials - satin ribbon Chantilly lace, couture-grade silk, python skin and fur - and worked them alongside more modern exposed zippers and ribbed jersey.

Spring/Summer 2004

During Paris Fashion Week in October 2003, Alber Elbaz showed his Lanvin collection for next Spring. A dress from this collection is shown on the left. His particular focus was seamless draping, possibly the trickiest of all technical challenges. He showed slinky thirties-era glamour. He wrapped satin and taffeta around the body, with edges tied in loose flat bows or flicks out from sides of dresses. Silver or bronze sequined dresses looked divine and right in step with this season's styles. He described how the collection evolved by saying "every dress was done three times and everytime I cancelled something, in the end we only did dresses made out of one piece of fabric. This was new for me, very light, almost timeless. I added masks to give a mood of carnival of happiness and enjoyment." If you want to read more about Alber Elbaz career, click here.

Fall/Winter 2004 ready-to-wear

Alber Elbaz presented the Lanvin Fall collection in Paris during Fashion Week in March 2004. An outfit from the show is pictured on the right. this is a glorious feather coat which seems to fly away. Alber is a favourite with celebrity ladies because of his signature touches. His taffeta trench coats, satin ribbon details, his use of jewelry. This time he pinned crystal flower brooches on day dresses and put shredded chiffon roses in buttonholes. Some of his creations were so innovative, like a twisted loop at the back of a short black silk dress that opened to transform into a train. Another was a draped silk apron that untied to leave a bare shif beneath. He showed vests which could be worn over or under coats and detachable collars and cuffs to change your outfit according to your mood.

Spring/Summer 2005

During Paris Fashion Week in October 2004, Alber Elbaz showed his Lanvin collection for next Spring. A dress from this collection is shown on the left. This collection emphasized the success that Alber is having, showing generous skirts and puffy silhouettes drenched in exquisite colour from intense purples through sophisticated neutrals and pastels. He used Greek pleats along the lines of Madame Gres' creations and flowy gowns like Fortuny's tunics. His embellishments were strands of pearls, ribbons or blue stones, and he even added brass-bobbles to pockets.

Autumn/Winter 2005

The much beloved Alber Elbaz' Autumn/Winter collection for the house of Lanvin, was shown during Paris Fashion Week in March 2005. On the left is one of the beautiful Little Black Dresses included in the show, this one with a high waist line and a fluttering chiffon skirt. He has been most successful at Lanvin because of his soft dresses and simple coats. He played with different silhouettes in a masterful way, short and wide for a swing coat or full skirt and long and slim with a mini trench coat. A sharp tuxedo coat dress or a playful feathered dress, along with a grey jersey column that was grace itself.

Lanvin's Success

Alber has become much beloved by Lanvin clientele. He uses not only black, or the white he chose when Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons asked him to participate in her London store, but also vivid satins in parakeet green or fuscsia, or a bright red trenchcoat. He says that his boss offers him freedom and respect so that he can mix sportswear with couture grace, comfort with elegance.

Spring/Summer 2006
Paris Fashion Week

Alber Elbaz presented his Lanvin Spring/Summer 2006 collection during Paris Fashion Week in October 2005. A grey satin sleeveless knee-lenth dress from the collection is shown on the right. It has applique black satin flowers on it. He went for the eighties look, with a lot of black clothes worn with obi sashes or a Japanese hair ornament. Shoulders were sharper this season, and neckties gave some clothes a masculine air. He used Japan and cherry blossoms as inspiration for his cocktail dresses. He did use a few witty details, like a zipper deliberately left half closed on the back of a dress. Kimono dresses, delicately wrapped, were charming.

Anya Hindmarch's designer handbags getting a lot of press lately

ANYA HINDMARCH ossie handbag in bronze metallic leather

Anya Hindmarch: Dave's got a brand new bag lady
She turned a £5 cotton shopper into the most desirable handbag around and was trying to save the planet. Now the superstar designer is helping David Cameron do the same for the Tories

Interview by Cole Moreton

When Anya Hindmarch says that she loves Baroness Thatcher, I want to run. "She has been such an inspiration," says the designer, and I want to leave her sitting there in her boardroom, calm among scented candles and £600 handbags, and flee – down the stairs, past the willowy beauties in the office and out on to the streets of Battersea. I want to find a betting shop, and say to the man behind the counter, breathlessly: "A fiver. On Dave. To say he loves Maggie."

If he can make sense of that, the odds will be high. David Cameron, Conservative leader, often seems embarrassed to be in the same party as the elderly, wild-eyed Baroness Thatcher. But here is Anya Hindmarch, the nation's most fashionable designer of handbags (go on, name another) who is a good friend of Dave and the glamorous organiser of this Wednesday's Black and White Ball – the glitziest night of the Tory year, when the New Cameronians will strut their stuff – enthusing about her debt to the Iron Lady. "I started my business young," she says. "I was 18. Lady Thatcher was pushing the nation to say, 'Get on with it. Get out there. Get going.' Everyone was buying shares ..."

She makes it sound as thrilling as naked skydiving. Perhaps it was. Plenty of people came down with an equally nasty bump, but that's forgotten now in Tory circles. So was Thatcher, but watch this space. As she speaks I think, hmm, Dave must be for turning.

Anya Hindmarch knows what people want before they do, you see. That's her job. The woman sitting straight-backed at the big white table, dressed in black, is also an alchemist. She sniffs out moods, plucks fancies from the air, and combines them with leather and cloth to create objects that sell for a lot of gold. If she says Thatcher is cool again, she's cool again.

Twice Glamour magazine's Designer of the Year, Hindmarch will have 60 shops around the world by the end of this, her 40th, year. Madonna carries her bags, as does Scarlett Johansson. To those of us who can't tell a Prada from a Lada, she is best known for I'm Not A Plastic Bag, the £5, limited-edition tote that caused near-riots when it went on sale last year. The unbleached cotton bag was meant to help save the planet by easing pressure on landfill sites, but also made her a household name. On the day of release, 80,000 people queued to buy one.

"It was unbelievable," says Hindmarch, but that's false modesty. "We planned to get as much drama and hysteria into it as possible." Why? "I wanted to make people aware that doing what I used to do – going to the supermarket, taking 30 plastic bags because I've got five children, going home and putting all the bags in the bin and, ultimately, the landfill – is stupid."

The queues were replicated in the States and around the world. In Taiwan, 30 people were hospitalised in the scramble. "It was awful." Sales of that bag have now stopped, except on auction sites. But how do you plan for "drama and hysteria"?

"The fashion formula," she says, quietly but quickly. What's that? "If a designer who would normally sell a bag for £500 suddenly sells one for £5, the access point to the brand is much lower. Add an incredibly important cause that everyone is starting to think about. Get Keira Knightley wearing it, and other beautiful chicks who are very influential. Then there is scarcity value, which was not manufactured – we just had no idea how many we would need. That's quite a potent formula."

The attacks on her were potent too. The bag was made in sweatshops, wasn't it? "Categorically not. It was made by a fantastic factory which makes for the biggest American companies and is audited externally every month." Shipping it here from China was hardly planet friendly though? "That's naïve. We're not going to be able to make something that will create the awareness we need for £5 in England. My God, I wish ... but we can't." But some shops sold it in plastic bags, didn't they? "No. We told the stores not to let anyone do that. Some customers did take a plastic bag from the counter because they had been queueing all night for their girlfriend and didn't want to get a mark on it. You want to smack them, but there's nothing you can do about it."

The bottom line was the message. "People who bought one are spreading the word. We did something I am proud of." The transportation was carbon offset. "I'm not convinced by all that, but there are big wins we can make. Let's focus on those."

That sounds very much like Dave. "Oh God. Stop it!" Like Cameron, she grew up in a happy family, has lots of money and lives in an exclusive area (Belgravia, in her case). Like him, she has the ability to make you forget all that when you meet her. You can almost see her lugging shopping from Sainsbury's into the back of her Land Rover, without a nanny or personal assistant in sight. Almost.

"I'm thinking Jude Law," she says on the phone to one of her sons, who wants to know how to get his hair cut. Hindmarch is married to James Seymour, a director of her company. He was a widower when they met and had three children already. They have had two more together. "Actually," she says, flicking the phone off, "I'm thinking of Jude Law pretty much all the time!"

She's nice. That's disconcerting. The girls downstairs stared as if they'd never seen a slightly overweight, poorly-dressed man before, but she even apologises for eating a quiche and a mountain of broccoli while we talk. She's deadly serious about business, but admits with a laugh that fashion is "a bit frilly". It's a form of brainwashing isn't it? "Yes," she says cheerfully. "I'm fascinated by it. We will look back on this era, with those stick-thin women with those huge lollipop heads, and go, 'What was anyone thinking? How could that ever be attractive?'"

That's Anya Hindmarch talking. The name on the bags the stick girls carry. The daughter of a self-made man. Born in one of the posher parts of Essex, she didn't go to university after convent school. She went to Italy to check out leather goods, and came back with a handbag that "all the cool girls were wearing". She sold them – thanks to a friend of a friend – through Harpers and Queen. Hindmarch still designs the understated, handmade bags herself, from whatever inspires her. "Fifties architecture, at the moment."

But come on, why bags? What is there to get hysterical about? "I love bags," she says, "because you don't have to try them on, you don't have to be a certain size, they can completely alter your mood." Really? "Ha! It's weird talking to a guy about this. A girl spends a ridiculous amount of money on a handbag. It's madness. But why? They are mood altering. When an actor gets into his shoes, he gets into the part. It's the same thing for a girl with a handbag," she says. "It is a form of self-expression, which is very important in life. It's showing our colours. It's tribal."

How does she square an environmentalist's dislike of waste with blowing a fortune on a bag? "Look, there's a huge industry behind this. There's an awful lot of people downstairs I employ, all of whose families are supported. That is the way the world works. I'm a commercial girl." And a modern girl. A leading member of the "new gang" of successful, young and fashionable Londoners she says are committing to the party. The environmentalist Zac Goldsmith was alongside her on the organising committee for the Black and White Ball, but many more creative and successful friends have "come out of the closet" in recent months, she says. "They all agree we need a change."

Guests will pay at least £450 (and up to £35,000) for a ticket. Charles Moore, the former Telegraph editor, called last year's party "an ordeal" featuring "someone dressed like a Russian prostitute sprawled on a bar playing an aluminium guitar". But that wasn't organised by Hindmarch. "I hope it will be elegant and beautiful. We've built eight Chelsea Flower Show gardens inside a tent."

This being New Tory, the flowers will be exquisitely tasteful, but not just for show. "We're donating most of the plants to schools and parks through the Conservative Social Action Programme. That's probably as much as I should say on politics." Probably. Let's press on anyway. It's the Notting Hill Party now, isn't it? "The people I have spoken to are not the Notting Hill gang," she says, a little crossly. "They're from all sorts of backgrounds. People who have got off their bums and done something."

Very Thatcher. Hanging on the wall of her office in a frame is a handwritten letter from the baroness, thanking Hindmarch for the navy blue handbag she sent as a gift. And guess what? Dave loves Maggie now too, it turns out after this interview. To many people's surprise, on Thursday he presented this "towering figure" with a Great Briton award. Anya Hindmarch knew what was in the air. It's what she does. Shame about the bet, though – with a big win, I could almost have bought a handle.