Ganesh gets a bag

ACCESSORIES: Would you get your wife a handbag that costs half a crore of rupees?

Chances are that you don't know what a minaudiere is. Certainly, it's difficult to find in dictionaries, but in these days of Google, nothing is really secret any more. A quick search tells me that it is best defined as a small, ornamental case used as a handbag by women for carrying cosmetics, jewellery and, presumably these days, also the mobile.

Last week, one such "" dare I say it? "" clutch bag with an "Indian" theme was launched in the capital in the shape of a Ganesh. We've had lots of Ganesh inspirations in fashion and accessories before "" as a motif on Tees, worn as jewelled pendants, retailed by the Spanish firm Lladro as a rare collectible in porcelain "" but a Ganesh bag?

It seems so, and its creator, Frank Zambrelli, says he looked at 700 images of the elephant-headed god before deciding on the perfect shape for the Leiber objet-bag that was launched to a barrage of flashbulbs for a fabulous Rs 2.65 lakh. For that value, and to my unsophisticated eye, it doesn't look like a steal, but Zambrelli assures me that the puja room-like icon with 12,000 crystals in 30 colours is indeed special.

Presumably, as creative director and president of Leiber, he should know. Leiber, for those of you whose wives probably already know it, was named the "most prestigious handbag brand" by the Luxury Institute's Luxury brand Status Index "" a sort of Bible for labels in the, well, naturally, luxury segment. An American brand launched in the 1960s, Leiber set the trend in beaded, jewelled bags. The first minaudiere, however, had been created earlier, by Van Cleef and Arpels, in 1930.

If you think Rs 2.65 lakh is too much for essentially a bag, here's what Zambrelli says goes into its making: 10 days of labour, a box handstamped in brass, plated with gold, then embellished with thousands of coloured crystals, which is why most Leiber bags, boxes, whatever, cost in that range. "It is," explains promoter Madan Assomull, whose Marigold group owns its rights in India, "a haute couture accessory, a representation of uber luxury".

Currently available through Marigold's Xess stores, the first Leiber boutique will open this summer when DLF Emporia gets launched in New Delhi's Vasant Kunj. As in the case of other labels, though, the cost of real estate will not permit rapid replication, so what CEO Sangeeta Assomull has in mind for now are trunk shows "" held in the past in Mumbai and Delhi, and slated next for Chandigarh.

Certainly, it caps labels like Louis Vuitton and Gucci, and a galaxy of international celebrities would not be seen on the red carpet without one. That's because the more expensive Leiber bags "" and these are set in pink and white diamonds, tourmaline and other precious stones "" can cost as much as Rs 50 lakh. But to buy one, you ought to at least know the meaning, if not the spelling, of minaudiere.