At this point I’m well aware of how late I am in regards to keeping up with the latest bits and bobs in fashion. It’s detrimental, really, not reading Fashionista and The Cut daily (or, rather, every half hour whenever they update) if I’m to pursue anything in this industry, but eh, that’s what the first semester of college does to yah. Any free time not spent in the study lounge (hellooo, exams!) is allotted to reading blogs via The New Yorker (such as Free Range, authored by Susan Orlean) or living the life of a true night crawler.
Somewhere between all that jazz I missed writing about the Lehman Brothers comeback.
I wholeheartedly planned on it, too, especially since the press release was dated September 21st, for immediate release. And available for purchase via wait list for one day only: Friday, September 24th. P a t h e t i c , I know. Thus I apologize beforehand because these bags are no longer up for grabs. Regardless of availability, however, they are deserved a mention – especially since I haven’t seen anything about it elsewhere on the web.
Lehman Brothers is dead; the epitaph is none too spectacular or epic, merely that it was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, defunct since 2008. But who, if not Mr. Timothy Franz Geithner, would predict that Lehman Brothers would resurrect two years later? As a fashion accessory, no less?
A designer came across thirty of its bank envelopes in an estate sale – forest green, vinyl remnants of a financial institution that once was and had been – and crafted it into a clutch. It made its debut during Fashion Week and passed the test of fashion’s greatest critics, where it was appreciated for its elegant representation of New York history. For good reason too – a minimalist design à la Celine will always be a favorite and undoubtedly a classic to transcend wardrobes throughout the years.
It’s the commemoration of a large part of American history that made this a must-write, no matter how late I am with posting about something labeled “immediate release.” Perhaps it appeals to my inner geek or Phoebephile. Either way the creation of these Lehman Brother clutches materializes the very thing I love about fashion and believe it has potential to be: a means of storytelling, of recording history, and of commemorating the human tale. This clutch may have been a more explicit means of doing all of the above, but it still is an integration of fashion and the real world.
Which makes it all the more fantastic. R.I.P. Lehman Brothers.
. . .
bises! x
a bit coquettish 