Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Shopping from Project Runway: Christian's Barbour tote






I've already forgotten the garments from Project Runway, but I'm revisiting all the footage of the (recently discontinued) Barbour tote bag carried in and out of the Parsons workroom by designer Christian Siriano. In Lexington, KY, a few years ago, I almost purchased the same bag (but promptly returned it to the rack after reading the "made in China" hang tag). In trying to track down new old stock of the Barbour tote (now more mature about the foreign import thing), I found a lovely UK equivalent, the "picnic tote," made by Chapman bags.

6 comments:

amy said...

i like the chapman picnic, though the colors besides the one you pictured are dreadful. isn't their fishing tote much more similar to the barbour? not yet mature in the least about chinese imports... make my british bag in the uk, dammit! eh, that barbour bag was still a beaut, though.

Lesli Larson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lesli Larson said...

Agreed--i intentionally suppressed the lime green and pink color options for fear of discrediting Chapman (which used to be have a charmingly budget and clunky promotional literature persona). The best Brit bags--of course--are those made for the Japanese market. They all seem to be made out of post-apocalyptic prep/quadruple ply canvas laminate with top quality bridle leather trim (the differences between my Brady UK and Japan bags are quite striking).

amy said...

huh, really? I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they, too, have a special japan-only line... i've been looking at brady bags lately (mostly on ebay uk), now maybe i think i'll wait till i can get my hands on a japanese one.

sulu-design said...

Lovely... thanks for the link!

Lesli Larson said...

If you want the Japanese Brady--you can sometimes order directly from Brady. Email them and see if they have any remaining stock. I had luck in the past securing a spiffy rucksack. Great company. Super personable. I typically order my stuff by way of Smith Country Pursuits in the UK (I'm currently awaiting word on the status of the Sandringham game bag--currently out of production).

http://www.smithscountrypursuits.co.uk/

Here's a sample Japanese Brady I covet:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/archivalclothing/2251322131/