Louis Vuitton, Dior, even Gucci and Bottega Veneta are old hat. Indians with a taste for luxury can now try Hermes, Tod's and a host of other brands.
You can get almost everything for good money — except, perhaps, for a Hermes Birkin. You can’t just pick the iconic handbag, toted proudly by everyone from Victoria Beckham to Naomi Campbell and Carla Bruni (and in India, by the likes of Shilpa Shetty, Shweta Bachchan and Natasha Poonawalla), off the shelf — even though it might seem more accessible now that Hermes has a store in Delhi and even if you can afford to pay the nearly Rs 4 lakh price-tag (for the 35 cm big size).
You have to order and wait — about a year and a half. Such is the mystique of the classic handbag named after British actress Jane Birkin! Legend has it that Birkin was on a London-Paris flight when she got chatting with Hermes CEO Jean-Louis Dumas sitting next to her and told him of her handbag woes.
Shortly thereafter she got a bag with the specifications that she’d wanted delivered to her with, some versions of the tale say, a bill of payment! True or not, it is stories like these that enhance the allure of luxury products. Just like the one about Grace Kelly attempting to hide her pregnancy with her handbag, and thus giving her name to another Hermes classic — the Kelly.
The Hermes store in Delhi (which launched with more of a ripple than a splash at The Oberoi a few months ago) has both, the Kelly and the Birkin, besides a few specimens from the latest range of bi-material bags that Hermes has come up with — the Garden bag in canvas with leather straps, and the Silkypop, a cute silk tote that zips up into a leather pouch.
Hermes might be the best known, or the most exclusive of the international luxury brands that have come to India recently, but it’s not the only one. Jimmy Choo, Gucci and Bottega Veneta, three other A-list brands known primarily for leather ware, opened their exclusive boutiques in India sometime in November 2007 — less than a year ago. Clearly, all the spiel about India churning out dollar millionaires faster than any other country in the world is drawing everyone in.
Early this month, TSG International launched four high wattage luxury brands at the UB Mall — Lanvin, Stella McCartney, Jean Paul Gaultier and Moschino. These are primarily clothing brands, that have since expanded their offering to accessories, perfumes, leather products, and so on. Some of their bag designs have attained iconic status.
Among them is Gaultier’s Le Prive, that takes off on one of the couture house’s classic designs, the trench coat, and became an instant best-seller when Madonna lugged it on her arm to the Gaultier show in Paris in 2006. The Bangalore store, which will soon be followed by one in Delhi, has the Le Prive in cream deer skin, black gaberdine, camel/black snakeskin and, of course, the most famous green tartan.
Lanvin’s brought to India its head-turner totes and sacs, the large Polisson in metallised calfskin and the evocatively named Happy, a leather shoulder bag in bright colours like yellow and navy blue with chain link straps, as also its Pop clutches in satin (prices on request). But if it’s not leather you’re looking for, then it’s Stella McCartney’s for you. Young, chic and environmentally friendly, McCartney has the classic black boho in coffee-pleated coated cotton.
Then there’s Tod’s among the other, more recent newcomers, which opened a store at Bangalore’s UB Mall in May, followed by one at the Galleria at the Hilton Towers in Mumbai, and another at the Emporio in Delhi just this Monday. The Italian brand is famous for its driving shoes and its D bag, named after Princess Diana who famously carried it.
Tod’s has launched a restyled version of the classic, a little higher, a little thinner, in patent leather in funky colours like sapphire blue, malachite and leaf green (priced at Rs 92,000). Also available is a shoulder bag, a simple and strong shape in soft calf leather jazzed up with braid straps (Rs 1,25,000).
There’s more, even if not quite so high on the luxury sweepstakes. Mandarina Duck, an Italian brand of designer luggage and travel accessories, has just opened shop at the Select City Walk in Delhi. The brand name apparently takes its name from a breed of ducks found on the banks of the Ussuri river on the border between Russia and China. Mandarina Duck bags aren’t in leather, but in water-resistant fabric or resin, with leather handles or straps in brilliant reds, pinks, yellow (prices range between Rs 5,400 and Rs 15,600).
Go bag them!
