Anya Hindmarch
“I find inspiration in anything and everything,” says Anya Hindmarch, whose humor-laden handbags and accessories are sold in 57 of her stores worldwide for prices that start below $100 for a simple leather sticker to well over $2,000 for a tote. “People inspire me, as well as architecture, travel and chocolate.” The food connection shows up in recent bags embossed with images of iconic food brand logos Tony the Tiger and the Kellogg’s Corn Flakes rooster. A metal purse shaped like a packet of British crisps (potato chips) took 10 molds to create, she says.
Her spring 2015 line employs clever, interchangeable stickers inspired “by the idea of taking stickers that were my schoolgirl version of ‘personalization’ but making them beautifully and handcrafted in leather,” Hindmarch says. “My idea was that you can ‘sticker up’ your handbag or phone or notebook and make it your own personal artwork. I love the combination of a grown-up snakeskin handbag smothered in leather stickers.”
One of her best-known purses is the 2007 cloth tote bearing the environmental message “I’m NOT a Plastic Bag,” which she made for the grass-roots social change movement We Are What We Do. A phenomenal global success — 8,000 customers lined up at a Japanese store hoping to nab one at its launch — the bag sold out all 90,000 pieces within days.
“Fashion should make you smile,” Hindmarch says. “And I think being British helps — our humor is one of the things I love most about England. Laughter is our lifeblood [at Anya Hindmarch]. Laughter and cake.”