Flower Power: The "Audre" Petal Bag

Category: Accessories

My name is Grace Moulthrop, and I am an incoming junior Fashion Design major at Marist College. This project is based around my “Audre” petal bag which is part of a handbag collection I created this spring called, Flower Power. This project was inspired by my love for fantasy genre novels, and mixing it with a 60/70s flower power aesthetic. There is currently a narrative in society about how women can only be successful if they are a "girl boss, or take on a more professional, masculine persona. But there is such a beauty in feminine styles or aesthetics that women should not feel like they have to give up in order to be viwed as successful or powerful. There is nothing weak about being "girly". Each handbag in my collection was meant to be statement piece, regardless of the style, yet still be a lifestyle collection. I was very inspired by 60s object shaped style silhouettes, as well as finding covers from 1960s fantasy novels to inspire sillouettes and details. Each handbag from this collection is named after a 160/70s female activist, who was a real-life heroine, rather than a fantasy one. The “Audre” petal bag was first inspired by 60/70s bags that were literally shaped . I took inspiration from bags from the 60s, as well as handbags made by Moschino that had similar literal shapes. I used the flower petal shape as a way of layering leather pieces to create a handbag that had a more organic feel, yet still played into the literal silhouette inspiration. The pattern is made to have the bag appear as a flower laid flat, with the petals folding upward to create the silhouette. The bag could be two-toned by layering petals of different colors, or be made as one color with the petal lines creating a texture detail. The recycled satin ribbons act as the drawstring and add a contrasting texture to the bag. Each bag in the collection would come with a detachable pearl chain.

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