Nora David is today's designer on Handbag Designer 101! Congrats to her!

Go read more at: http://www.handbagdesigner101.com/h?s=designers&id=903

Color trends: who decides?

Surely fashions come and go, without anyone “deciding”? Well, actually, there are individuals and organizations that give a “guiding hand” to the whims of fashion.

The Color Marketing Group is an association of people who work with color. They design with color, market color, and teach color. The Group holds regular conferences and workshops at which their members present their ideas on color trends. The group consolidates those ideas, “identifies” the direction of the trends, and “translates” the trends into specific salable colors for manufactured products.

The group takes into account color trends from previous seasons, plus cultural contexts (such as upcoming movies, or the flag color of the host nation of the Olympic Games). The CMG then issues to its members its “Color Directions Forecasts” which predict color trends one to three years in advance.

The members then go to work designing products based on those forecasts. As the time approaches, CMG issues press releases so that the media can report on the upcoming color trends. As if by magic, when the time comes, the products arrive in the stores with the predicted colors.

You might think that this has elements of a self-fulfilling prophecy. You might also think that it’s like a shaky “house of cards” because it depends on the group’s members having sufficient faith in the predicted colors that the members will actually produce products in those colors. However, it works well enough for the members, who depend on changes in fashion to keep up their sales, but who want to reduce the risk associated with bringing new fashions to the market.

Just to complicate things, there’s another organization that positions itself as the “world’s color authority”. Pantone LLC is well-known to those in the printing trade for its Pantone Matching System, a collection of numbered color cards by which most color printing is specified. (See also What are the primary colors of light, paint, and printing?) Pantone declares a color for each year, and also issues more specific predictions (e.g. “Fashion Color Report for Fall” or “Must-have color trends for next year”). Pantone also sells a more comprehensive fashion color planner 18 to 24 months before each season.

Pantone’s “colors of the year” have included:

• 2007 – Chilli Pepper
• 2008 – Blue Iris
• 2009 – Mimosa Yellow
• 2010 – Turquoise
• 2011 – Honeysuckle (reddish pink)
• 2012 – Tangerine Tango

References:

Color Marketing Group – http://www.colormarketing.org/
Pantone – http://www.pantone.com/

Source: http://quezi.com/13102

Collections Xaragua Spring 2012

Isn't it interesting that handbags were first used by men?

From the ancient beaded bags of African priests to the haute couture tote of the modern lady of leisure, handbags have historically been both the carriers of secrets and the signifiers of power, status, and beauty. As the keepers of the equipment of daily life, handbags have been strongly influenced by technological and societal changes, such as the development of money, jewelry, transportation, cosmetics, smoking, cell phones, and the role of women in society. 

Embracing its paradoxical role as both signifier and concealer, the handbag gestures toward a myriad of tantalizing psychological interpretations. The contents of a handbag have been seen as representing part of the Freudian unconscious, and the bag itself (as an empty receptacle) can be interpreted as female genitalia or even the womb. Indeed, the word “purse” was a slang word for the female pudenda from the seventeenth century (Steele and Borrelli 1999). Ancient, symbolic, and indispensable, the handbag has been a chameleon object, expressing (and carrying) the needs and tastes of both its wearer and its time. 

Purse Precursors

Purses, pouches, or bags have been used since humans have needed to carry precious items. While “handbags” as a term did not exist until the mid-nineteenth century, ancient pouches made of leather or cloth were used mainly by men to hold valuables and coins (Foster 1982). Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs show men wearing purses around the waist, and the Bible specifically identifies Judas Iscariot as a purse carrier. 

Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries: Girdle Pouches

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, both men and women would attach pouches to the most important feature of medieval garb: the girdle. Because pockets would not be invented for several hundred more years, wearers would also attach other valuables to their girdle, such as a rosary, Book of Hours, pomanders (scented oranges), chatelaines (a clasp or chain to suspend keys, etc.), and even daggers (Wilcox 1999). The drawstring purse would hang from the girdle on a long cord and would vary according to the fashion, status, and lifestyle of the wearer. Women particularly favored ornate drawstring purses which were known as “hamondeys” or “tasques” (Foster 1982). 

Medieval purses were not strictly used for carrying money, but were also associated with marriage and betrothal, often depicting embroidered love stories. Purses, known as “chaneries,” were also used for gaming or for holding food for falcons. Ecclesiastical purses were highly significant and were used to hold relics or corporals (line cloth used in mass). The most important bag at this time was the Seal Bag which was made for the Keeper of the Great Seal, later known as the Lord Chancellor (Wilcox 1999). 

Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries: Pockets and "Swete Bagges"

During the Elizabethan era, women’s skirts expanded to enormous proportions. Consequently, small medieval girdle purses were easily lost in the large amounts of fabric. Rather than wear girdle pouches outside on their belt, women began to wear their pouches under their skirts, and men would wear pockets (called “bagges”) made of leather inside their breeches (Foster 1982). Peasants and travelers might wear large satchel-like leathers or cloth bags diagonally across the body, as in Peter Brueghel’s painting, “The Elders Two Peasants” (Wilcox 1999). 

In addition, in a time when personal hygiene was lacking, many aristocrats in the sixteenth century would carry what was called “swete bagges” or bags that were filled with sweet smelling material. Just as pomanders hung from the girdle in the fifteenth century, these swete bagges were filled with powder from sweet-smelling herbs and spices, such as lavender, or with perfumed balls of cotton. Swete bagges might also be stored with clothes and linens or set among sheets and pillowcases (Wilcox 1999). 

Like their immediate predecessors, both men and women in the seventeenth century rejected the obvious use of bags and preferred to hang long embroidered drawstring purses under their skirts and breeches (Foster 1982). Purses were not only functional but they were also often used as conspicuous decorative containers for gifts, such as money, perfume, or jewels (Steele and Borrelli 1999). Toward the end of the century, purses became increasingly sophisticated, moving from a simple drawstring design to more complex shapes and materials. 

Eighteenth Century: The Revolt against Underwear and Pockets

After the French Revolution, the full skirts of the ancient regime became less popular in favor of a more slender and narrow dress. These slender dresses left no room beneath for pockets and, consequently, pockets were discarded. Purses came back out into the open in the form of “reticules” or “indispensables” as the English tended to call them, suggesting that women had already largely developed a dependence on their handbags (Steele and Borrelli 1999). The French often parodied the women who carried the delicate bags that resembled previously hidden pockets as “ridicules” (Wilcox 1999). 

Nineteenth Century: The Rise of the Handbag

Developments in science and industry during the Victorian era created a vast array of styles and fabrics which women could coordinate with the rest of their outfits. Though pockets returned in the 1840s, women continued to carry purses and spend an enormous amount of time embroidering them to show off for potential husbands, often marking the date and their own initials on their bags (Wilcox 1999). In keeping with the ideals of domesticity of earlier times, many women wore chatelaines that attached to the waist belt by a large decorated clasp (Foster 1982). 

However, with the advent of the railroad, bags were about to experience a revolution. In 1843, there were nearly 2000 miles of railway lines in Great Britain. As more people traveled by train and more women became more mobile, professional luggage makers turned the skills of horse travel into those for train travel, and soon the term “handbag” emerged to describe these new hand-held luggage bags. Indeed, many of the top names of today's handbags got their start as luggage makers (in contrast to the previously made purses and pouches which were made by dressmakers). For example, Hermes bags were founded in 1837 by Thierry Hermes, a harness and saddle maker, while Loius Vuitton was a luggage packer for the Parisian rich. Modern handbags still allude to luggage with their pockets, fastenings, frames, locks, and keys (Steele and Borrelli 1999). 

1900-1920s: The Swinging Pochette and Egyptomania

Handbags in the early twentieth century became much more than just hand-held luggage. Women could choose from small reticules, Dorothy bags (now called dotty or marriage bags) with matching robes, muffs, and fitted leather bags with attached telescopic opera glasses and folding fans. Working women often used larger handbags, such as the Boulevard bag, leather shopping bags, and even briefcases which could be worn around the shoulder (Wilcox 1999). Handbags also included folders for the newly invented pound note which replaced the gold sovereign in 1914 (Foster 1982). 

After WWI, and as more activities and travel opportunities became available for women, the long constricting layers and rigid corseting disappeared. Perhaps the most important development during this period was the “pochette,” a type of handle-less clutch, often decorated with dazzling geometric and jazz motifs, which women would tuck under their arms to give them an air of nonchalant youth. Rules for color coordination grew lax and novelty bags, such as doll bags, which were dressed exactly like the wearer, became popular. The discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1923 inspired Egyptomania and purses began to reflect exotic motifs (Wilcox 1999). 

1930s: Art Deco

By the 1930s, most of the bags used today had been invented, including the classic handbag which had a handles and a clasp frame, the clutch (a variation of the pochette), the satchel, and the shoulder bag. The 1930 bag reflected the Art Deco style which highlighted abstraction and celebrated new industrial materials, such as plastic and zippers (Wilcox 1999). 

1940s: WWII and the Rise of Shoulder Bags

The war saw the smooth contours of the 1930s fashion change to a more military look. Bags became larger, squarer, and more practical, reflecting a desire to appear self-sufficient. As zippers, mirrors, and leather became scarce, designers turned to wood or plastic for frames and employed new synthetics such as rayon. The drawstring bag reappeared and was often homemade. Bags in Great Britain were made both to carry gas masks and to match an outfit. In France and America, as more women entered the workforce, they turned to shoulder bags (Foster 1982). After the war, the shoulder bag was relegated to country and travel features until its revival in the 1970s (Wilcox 1999). 

1950s: Handbags Reach Cult Status

The post war economic boon of the 1950s catapulted handbags into cult status. Major designers such as Vuitton, Hermes, and Channel enjoyed a culture where accessorizing and color coordinating were held to an almost moral standard. In addition, Christian Dior’s new style, introduced in 1947, emphasized long skirts and tiny waists. As the antithesis of the military style, this new look signaled a new decade of femininity where a very small bag implied beauty and sophistication. The tiny handbag, like Cinderella’s tiny shoe, represented femininity and submission. Indeed, a woman holding a smaller handbag sends a different sexual message than a woman carrying a huge shoulder bag (Steele and Borrelli 1999). 

1960s-1970s: The Rise of the Youth Culture

During the 1960s, rules of “appropriate” dress relaxed in response to the women’s’ movement and the rise of the youth culture. As the rules of correct dressing began to breakdown, the narrow long clutch was one of the earliest types of handbags to make the transition into the age of informality and youth fashion because it had always been thought suitable for a youthful look. The small and dainty shoulder bag with long chains or thin straps also began to dominate because it kept with informal child-like qualities of the miniskirt (Steele and Borrelli 1999). Such handbags highlighted the 1960 “swinging” fashion that was in stark contrast to the posed 1950s models. 

Influenced by young travels to India in the late 1960s, larger satchels and fabric shoulder bags began to be popular. As opposed to machine-made goods, Afghan coats and bags, patchwork and embroidery, and former army shoulder bags also became popular (Wilcox 1999). In less than a decade, individual expression became popular and psychedelic patterns and later “flower power” introduced a romantic and ethnic look to fashion. By the end of the 1970s, slung shoulder bags returned with lots of buckles and zippers, suggesting that women were equipped for anything in the new age of feminism (Steele and Borrelli 1999). 

1980s-1990s: Conspicuous Consumption and the Unisex Bag

The 1980s' handbags became associated with conspicuous consumption--and for the first time, a concern with health and fitness sports bags and shoes were an additional group of accessories that influenced high fashion. In addition, as technology introduced the calculator and filofax, work bags were designed for order and control. In 1985, Miuccia Prada introduced the black nylon knapsack that become the first totally unisex bag, and it remains ubiquitous. One of the brightest stars of the 1980s was the rise of Vera Bradley's classic quilted handbag that reached sales of over $1million in just three years. By the early 1990s, small designer bags with giant Hs and CCs were all over London and New York, and only the trained eye could tell the real from the fake (Steele and Borrelli 1999). 

Twenty-First Century: Anything Goes...Even a "Man Purse"

Handbags are currently made in a bewildering array of styles and materials, such as waterproof canvas, space age synthetics, and faux reptile skins. Designers continue to play with the paradoxes inherent in the handbag with transparent materials that both expose and conceal the contents of the bag. And handbags, which for so long had been associated with the feminine are now becoming more popular with men. Both the modern man and woman can strap on or sling over a hands-free bag and go. Its variety and adaptability highlight the handbag’s extraordinary potency and staying power. 

Source: http://www.randomhistory.com/2008/10/01_handbag.html

Let's learn about different types of handbags

As a fashion accessory, handbags can be categorized according to the silhouette of the bag, as well as the type of handle. The current popular handbag silhouettes are (as of 2011):

• Baguette: a small, narrow, rectangular shape purse, resembling a French loaf of bread (baguette)
• Barrel: shaped like a barrel or closed tube, usually with shoulder-length straps
• Bowling bag purse: a popular 1990s "retro" style for younger women, modelled after American bags used to carry bowling balls
• Bucket bag: shaped like a bucket, medium-size or large, with shoulder straps and a drawstring closure
• Clutch: a handbag without handles, rectangular in shape, often an evening bag but used during the day as well
• Doctor's bag: modelled after a Victorian era doctor's bag for making housecalls
• Drawstring: a purse that closes with a drawstring at the top, may have wrist- or shoulder-length straps, popular as an evening bag style
• Half-moon: shaped as a half-moon
• Hobo: medium-size crescent-shaped bag with a top zipper and often a slouch or dip in the centre; a modern, casual silhouette
• Lighted: a handbag with a lighting system which has been attempted since the 1950s without success until recently when in 2011 the first successful lighted handbag was brought to market.
• Messenger bag: one long strap worn across the body, inspired by bags worn by urban messengers to deliver business mail, a modern silhouette
• Minaudière: a small rectangular evening bag, usually hard-bodied, sometimes held inside a soft fabric bag that serves as a sleeve
• Muff: a winter bag made of real or faux fur, wool or velvet that has zippered compartments and a slip opening for hands
• Pocketbook: small purse, rectangular shape
• Pouch: small bag such as a pocket, teabag, money bag, sporran, etc
• Saddle purse: shaped like a horse saddle, may have equestrian motifs and hardware to emphasize the design
• Satchel: a soft-sided case usually of leather
• Tote: medium to large bag with two straps and an open top
• Trapezoid: shaped as a trapezoid, usually made of stiff material

According to type of handle, handbags are often categorized as:

• Tote: a medium to large bag with two straps and an open top
• Cross-body: one long strap that crosses over the body, with the bag resting at the front by the waist
• Sling bag: one long, wide strap that crosses over the body, with the bag resting on the back
• Shoulder bag: any bag with shoulder-length straps
• Clutch: handleless

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handbag

Rectangular Tote

Messenger bag

Shoulder bag / Trapezoid

Small shoulder bag

Medium shoulder bag

The origin of the brand name, Collections Xaragua

  

The origin of the brand name, Collections Xaragua, comes from Haitian history. It is my way to pick everyone's curiosity so they can learn about Haiti, when it was called Hispaniola.

Before the slaves were brought to the country, Haiti was a peaceful and beautiful country, inhabited by the natives (called Indians by Christopher Colombus).
   

Xaragua was one of 5 and the most popular and strongest of the chiefdoms of Hispaniola, it was a chiefdom in which 2 of the most influential caciques were a brother and sister, Behecchio and Anacaona. Xaragua was in the southwest peninsula. They grew lots of cotton here and also in the cul de sac, north of where Port‑au‑Prince lies today. It was full of peaceful Tainos that were very peaceful but were killed due to trickery and hate. When Bartolome ordered the abandonment of the previous capital at Isabela in 1497 the then mayor, Francisco Roldan objected. He marched against the fort at Concepcion de la Vega, intending to capture it and take control of the northern goldfield. Unable to do so, he and his followers fled across the central mountains and took refuge in Xaragua. Chief Behecchio and Anacaona received them peaceably and granted them asylum. Now even though Francisco Roldan was part of the problem the natives still accepted them, using their arrival as a pretext to abandon the system of tribute that had been imposed by the colonial government. When Columbus returned from Spain in summer of 1498, he placated Roldan by authorizing him to attack the natives and divide them among followers to use as forced laborers at the goldfields.  Despite them giving him refuge, Roldan followed orders and this action has become known as "repartimiento".

Nicolas de Ovando, who succeeded Bobadilla in 1502, brought along 2,500 colonists, including the first European families to arrive in the Americas. A thousand men of these colonists are said to have died while prospecting for gold. Others established farms, devoting them primarily to livestock, for Spanish crops did not flourish. Ovando felt it necessary to remove the threat to the new settlers that was posed by the surviving hierarchies of caciques at either end of Hispaniola. He accomplished this task by eliminating the principal caciques, first in the southeastern chiefdom of Higuey and then in southwestern Xaragua. Behecchio's sister was Anacaona, widow of Caonabo. After the Spanish killed Caonabo and Behecchio, she became the main influence in Xaragua and was much loved by her people. However, the Spanish were threatened by this popularity and the power that went with it especially with a woman having such status which went against their beliefs and ability to control the natives. They proceeded forcefully and with great brutality. Soon after his arrival in 1502, the Higuey Indians rebelled to avenge the killing on one of their chiefs by a Spanish attack dog. Ovando rounded up six or seven hundred of them, put them in a chief’s bohio, or house, and had them knifed to death. He then ordered their bodies to be dragged into the adjoining plaza and publicly counted.

                In the fall of 1503, he paid another formal visit to Xaragua, where he was well received by Anacaona. Ovando, a successor to Columbus, went to her village under the pretext of collecting the Spanish tribute. Despite Anacaona's instructions to the people to be fully cooperative and hospitable, and despite her own friendly welcome, the Spanish began a slaughter, burned the village and took Anacaona prisoner. She convened a meeting of some eighty-district chiefs in her bohio, whereupon Ovando ordered his soldiers to block the door and burn them alive. She was hung at Santo Domingo in deference to her rank. No reason was given for these actions, which destroyed the last independent chiefdoms in Hispaniola. 

Source: http://xaraguachapter.giving.officelive.com/Xaragua.aspx

Save The Date! Women In Production 2012

WOMEN IN PRODUCTION 2012

will launch Haitian Heritage Month by:

• Providing a platform for Haitian women entrepreneurs/artisans

   to showcase and sell their products “Direct to Retail”.

• Facilitating the development of export markets for Haitian women

   entrepreneurs and artisans.

• Connecting Haitian women entrepreneurs/artisans with

   international buyers and designers

   

WOMEN IN PRODUCTION 2012

Invites you to celebrate Haitian Heritage Month

The month of May is Haitian Heritage Month

Haitian Heritage Month

Commemorates Haitian achievements and contributions across the globe

Encourages and supports self-esteem of Haitian and Haitian-American youth

First observed in Boston in May 1998, the month-long events  have

continued with such activities as parades, flag raising, conferences, and

cultural events organized by Haitian-Americans throughout the United States

May 2005 former President George W. Bush and his wife helped organize

the first Haitian Heritage Month festivities at the White House

Source: http://haitianwomeninproduction.com/WIP_2012_HERITAGE.html 

YSii Showroom: GLam Life Interview (Kisa nou Panse???)

YSii Showroom: GLam Life Interview (Kisa nou Panse???): Youline Silgnena of Ysiishowroom.com is Real Life Glam. We met Youline during Social Media Week Miami and couldn’t help but be captivated...

Launch of Spring-Summer 2012 Collection

August 7, 2011 marks the date on which Collections Xaragua launched, in the second edition of Runway Haiti, a prelude to its spring-summer 2012 collection. In the eyes of an alerted public, eight new models honour the Haitian culture. Shirrings, pleats, and embroidery are mixed beautifully with vibrant colors. The public’s showed its appreciation with continuous applause throughout the show.

                                          The designer with her models.

Collections Xaragua at Women In Production 2011

In June 2012, Collections Xaragua participated in the popular fair "Women in Production" which was held for the first time outside of the Haitian territory, in the "Miami Convention Center" located in downtown Miami.

The fair attracted an estimated 3000 visitors. Collections Xaragua was a hit! At the end of the fair, we were out of stock! The customers’ feedbacks about the style, quality and originality were positive. The customers were all also receptive to the price range, which fully met their expectations.Since then, there has been growing demand for Collections Xaragua‘s handbags.

                                          Collections Xaragua's booth

                                         The designer helping clients.

                                          The designer helping clients

                  The designer informing a client about the origins of materials.

                                                    A happy client!

                                          Another happy client!

                                  Miss Haiti International, Anédie Azael,

                                  visiting Collections Xaragua's booth.

                                 

Launching of Collections Xaragua

Collections Xaragua was launched on April 30, 2011, at the first edtion of Runway Haiti, an event that brings together Haitian designers on the same runway, to promote Haitian fashion nationally and internationally. An audience of more than 300 people attended and warmly applauded the originality and audacity in the creation and presentation of the handbags. 

The collection exhibited a wide variety of choices ranging from evening bags to everyday bags to beach bags. According to the most read entertainment magazine,Ticket Magazine, Collections Xaragua was among the best with "their very elegant small bags". 

About Collections Xaragua

Our products are made artisanally and uphold our tradition in using straw, siam and the savoir-faire of Haïti to create a variety of innovative styles.

The elegant women wearing this coveted brand are proud to be ambassadors of such an original style. A bag from Collections Xaragua is a symbol of fashion and membership of an exclusive club. It’s a “must-have”!

Proudly made in Haïti, Collections Xaragua, a matter of style...