Bow Crazy

Maybe I'm a bit slow, but I hadn't heard of the designer Alexis Mabille until the Colette x Gap pop-up store came to Manhattan, introducing a bevy of young independent designers, some with familiar names, others completely new to my ears.  Mabille's grey felted bow bag caught my eye, but by the time I made it to the completely mobbed and way over-hyped shoebox of a store, there was no sign of it in sight.  I recently did get around to finding his website and browsing through his ready to wear collection, and was overwhelmed by the plethora of bows that were used on bags, collars, and headbands to accessorize the runway show.

While the bags might look similar to the box shaped bow adorned clutches that Prada made for Fall 07, call me crazy, but I like Mabille's cartoon style take better.  I love the mammoth sizing, the soft and semi-sloppy slouchiness, the play of scale, and the whimsical choice of colors and fabrics, which seem to lie in contrast to the more serious and structured Prada version.

Alexis Mabille's collection is available at Colette in Paris, in the store and online.  It's still pretty pricey, but if I can't manage to save up for a bow bag, don't be surprised if you see a bunch of bow inspired outfits in the near future.  Speaking of which, pictures of our Rodarte inspired outfits from last night will be coming soon...

The grey wool felt bow bag that was sold at the Colette x Gap popup store in Manhattan a couple of months ago.

Bow bags of every size, shape, and color.

Bows for boys!  These little sequined bow-ties remind me of the dinky black ones we got from the Halloween Store for our Fosse-inspired night last year.  Somehow they look better when you stack three of them on top of each other and stick them on a male model.

-Tiffany