For the woman who has everything—including the coveted Birkin and Kelly bags—Pierre Hardy has just upped the fashion ante! Now—provided that you have around 1.5 (as in million) euros, you can add a jewelled mini-replica of one of these bags to your highly insured accessories collection. When I was in Paris a few weeks ago for the
fall/winter shows, I met up with the Hermès designer to chat about his latest Haute Bijouterie collection. The diamond-laced golden whips ( the Fouet) and glossy black horse hooves ( the Centaure) are spectacular, but the pieces that raise bling to an entirely new level are the four mini-handbags, including the Kelly, which has 1,160 diamonds, and the Birkin, which has 2,712. “Both bags took more than 1,000 hours to create,” said Hardy. “The challenge was to make them magical and feminine yet still respect each bag’s original design. It’s like
making a perfume—there’s the eau de toilette and there’s the essence. I had to capture the essence and make each even more iconic than it already is. The most challenging one was probably the Kelly because it is most well known.”
Besides these two pieces, Hardy designed the Nausicaa, a flapperesque fringed mesh bag accented with 1,811 diamonds. His favourite mini, however, is the Chaine D’Ancre, which he created from the house’s iconic anchor chain. This modern, abstract piece made from white gold has—take a deep breath—11,303 diamonds with a total carat weight of 86.24.
Put your sunglasses on and then check out this sparkling sensation after the jump.
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