When December starts, the party season is clearly present in the stores! It is time to think about resolutions for the next year and to think back to the previous years. Well, I want to look back a little further today. I want to look back to the party years in the roaring 20s. With this new series, the history might become the inspiration for the future. What were the bag trends back then and what could we learn from, use and make with, this information? Well, let’s see!
While writing and reading about the roaring twenties, it transports you to a time where only some face powder to powder your nose in the ladies room and a handkerchief had to be taken with you. Besides that, it wasn’t seposed to be practical, it was a fashion item.
Bag frames
If you ever wonder how I come up with the next blog post, the bag frame of the latest bag inspired me. The bag frame is a well-known characteristic of the bags in that era. It could be combined with fabric, metal mesh, a lot of beading or leather of course. All shapes and sizes were available of the bag frames, whether it was rectangular, round or a bit V-shaped.
Tooled leather
The roaring twenties are famous for all the details in buildings, their clothing but the bag couldn’t miss. Therefore they often tooled their leather before they made their bags. If you are not familiar with tooling of leather: with a swivel knife and other tools they could cut and punch details and complete patterns into the leather. They use often cows vegetable tan leather for this purpose, also since it will age beautifully and gives the patterns even more depth. Besides a little bit of an American influence keeps it interesting.
Designer famous in the roaring ’20s
I couldn’t find much information about bag designers in the ’20s. There are many famous clothing designers who we still adore nowadays. Though bag designers… well, one famous bag designer from that era is ofcourse Coco Chanel. In a previous post, in the series, learning from the masters, I’ve written more about her so, if interested check it out.
What could we use for inspiration nowadays?
Well certainly to use more and more bag frames!! I am in love with them. Further, I am not a very big fan of it, but maybe I should eventually look into tooling, even if it is just to get to know the technique. Whether I would actually use it in my design is something else… Mainly because it is really difficult to make something beautiful and takes probably years to actually master.
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