That Angelou

"PERFECTLY IMPERFECT IS HARD TO ACHIEVE IN PRODUCTION, but I’m always trying to show our partners what I mean by using nature as a visual metaphor." shares Jasmin Larian Hekmat with Forbes, where she's been listed in 30 Under 30 for art and style in 2018. Indeed, while her label found its success with handbags made of materials from warm climates, such as straw, bamboo, and rattan, other pieces in synthetic still carry the brand's natural aesthetic.

Created in 2012, Jasmin Larian Hekmat's Cult Gaia produces heirloom pieces recognizable by their sculptural style. The handbags, shoes and accessories are first objet d’art, and secondly functional, so they are purposely designed to turn heads. The half-moon-shaped Ark bags were a fashion phenomenon in 2016, taking over fashion editorials and celebrity feeds. The Babe takes the form of an actual piglet with shoulder straps.

Cult Gaia's Babe, Ark, and Lilleth bags in bamboo and straw:

My current pick is the Angelou, which is essentially a giant tassel braided around two rings. Like most other Cult Gaia bags, the Angelou is delightfully impractical, as objets d’art are.

How to wear it? Travel someplace warm, potentially coastal, attend a dressed-up function either by day or night. Fashion is really only partly about items, and mostly about lifestyle. Design a life, and the right things slot in.

Cult Gaia Angelou, Babe, Ark and Lilleth, cultgaia.com

That Natural Finnish

IT'S EASY TO MISTAKE THE LABEL FOR A JAPANESE WORD. Samuji's aesthetic is after all very functional, embodied by the natural textures and notable tailoring associated with Japanese brands. Samuji is however, of Nordic origin, founded and led by Finnish designer Samu-Jussi Koski.

Launched in spring 2011, the label has since grown to offer two womenswear lines, accessories, and a homeware line Samuji Koti, named after the Finnish word for "home". Koski explained to T Magazine that doing so has been on the to-do list from the start. "I wanted a complete world, not only a fashion label, but something deeper.”

Nature serves as an inspiration for Koski, who grew up in Muurame: a municipality of Finland situated between two lakes. He also considers Finnish architect Alvar Aalto as an influence, with his pieces, as well as spaces, echoing the modern sensibilities of the architect's designs. Naturally, Samuji also carries the spirit of Marimekko, the Finnish textile company where Koski was previously creative director. Nature-inspired patterns and sumptuous surfaces demonstrate his masterful approach to material.

I'm loving Samuji's straw hats and handbags, particularly the Vasella Bag with its sculptural silhouette and woven surface. Partly globular, fully lined, and with a long, flat strap, the bag is not quite a beach bag, not quite a basket bag, and sits somewhere between casual and elegant.

Samuji Vasella Bags, samuji.com

That Architect of Fashion

THERE WEREN'T MANY JOBS FOR YOUNG ARCHITECTS IN 1960S ITALY when Gianfranco Ferré got his degree. He designed accessories for a living; an unplanned step into the fashion industry where he would eventually start his own label, and also become artistic director at Christian Dior. It was deemed controversial at the time for a non-French designer to lead a Parisian house, but Ferré's impeccable craftsmanship and innovative approach to design made him a fitting choice for the luxury brand. His creations reflected a strong architectural influence, earning him such titles as “architect of fashion” and “Frank Lloyd Wright of fashion”.

Ferré became well known for designing an array of white women's shirts that strayed from traditional patterns. He took the iconic garment, reinvented its proportions, and produced pieces that required masterful techniques. In 2015, eight years after his passing, the white shirts received a tribute through an exhibition by Milan's Palazzo Reale, the Gianfranco Ferré Foundation, and the Prato Textile Museum. La Camicia Bianca Secondo Me, or "The White Shirt According to Me" gathered and displayed drawings, photographs, installations and advertising that represent and celebrate two decades of the designer's creativity.

Among the display items were photographs by Leonardo Salvini, whose x-ray simulations of Ferré's white shirts highlighted their technical perfection. Exposing every pleat and seam, the images present the shirts from an almost architectural, blueprint-like perspective, rendering them both structural and delicate at once.

Fittingly iconic photographs of an equally iconic subject matter, Salvini's images romance both Ferré's original field of study, as well as his fashion legacy. They inspire me personally for the triumph they represent, of turning an otherwise failed attempt at a career in architecture, into one of the most celebrated fashion perspectives of the late 20th century.

Photographs of Gianfranco Ferré shirts by Leonardo Salvini, mostra.fondazionegianfrancoferre.com

That Little Luxury

AS SNEAKER CULTURE, MOBILE WORKING and other mobility-embracing trends secure their place in the mainstream, you'd expect form to follow function with the triumph of commuter-friendly fashion. But history shows that practical isn't always necessarily the most coveted. Many of us still readily make room in our lives for beautiful, albeit impractical, things.

Such is the case with what has been dubbed "the smallest it bag ever." Launched in 2015, Simon Miller's Bonsai bag measures a mere 12 x 12.5 x 17 centimeters, with a pair of hoops as handles measuring 6 centimeters across. For scale, the iPhone 6 at 13.8 centimeters is taller than this bag. The average female palm, at 6.8 centimeters, is wider than the bag's handles.

Still, it sold out on Barneys' pre-order even before stocks reached stores. “We wanted to create something cool and cute, and to help women streamline their lives by only allowing the essentials." Simon Miller founders Daniel Corrigan and Chelsea Hansford shared with the Telegraph. The cylindrical bag has no zips or fastenings for securing its contents, and only saw the addition of straps and a slightly larger version introduced in Fall 2016.

Priced accessibly for its category, what the Bonsai truly signals, in my opinion, is luxury. I imagine that this bag's owner has nothing to lug around; neither a laptop nor an umbrella, which a P.A. or chauffeur could fetch. She wouldn't travel by bus or bicycle, because even in the absence of theft, it seems unlikely that the Bonsai would hold its contents through a rigorous commute.

That's not to say I don't want one of my own. William Morris, a 19th-century designer and poet associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement, once said in a lecture: "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." Whether it's an item of cult status or a randomly-found pebble, driftwood or seashell from a shore, objects of beauty gain their value not from their function but from the way we regard them. And therein lies their luxury.

Simon Miller Bonsai bags, images from simonmillerusa.com

Those Interlocking Influences

INTERLOCKING THE INFLUENCES OF COCO CHANEL AND KARL LAGERFELD, Mademoiselle Privé was described by The Guardian as "less a retrospective of a long-dead designer than an exhibition about how Karl Lagerfeld invented the character Coco Chanel as we think of her today." Indeed, the exhibit combined history and imagination in presenting the origins and manifestations of Chanel's codes.

There were rooms dedicated to fragrance, fabric, film and ephemera, as well as workshops for embroidery with Lesage, feather and flower making with Lemarié, and olfactive enlightenment through the legendary Chanel N°5. My favorite of the rooms was the jardin à la française, which featured interlocking C-shaped pathways curving through real hedges.

With only a few pieces remaining from the original Bijoux de Diamants collection designed by Coco Chanel herself, the entire jewelry line was recreated for the exhibit and worn in portraits by celebrities including Julianne Moore, Vanessa Paradis, Kristen Stewart and Lily-Rose Depp. Also replicated was the famed mirrored staircase from which Coco Chanel secretly watched her fashion show audiences. The rest of her Rue Cambon apartment could be visited virtually through the Mademoiselle Privé app.

To most of the world, Chanel is a sphere one could only peer into through pictures and videos. The exhibit at Saatchi Gallery was a delightfully accessible way to "C the World" built in turns by Coco Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld. Although taking its title from the "Mademoiselle Privé" sign Coco hung on the door of her atelier to work undisturbed, the exhibit was anything but unwelcoming. Chanel CEO Bruno Pavlovsky affirmed: "We felt it was a good time for the brand to give away some secrets."

Mademoiselle Privé at the Saatchi Gallery, October 13 - November 1, 2015. mademoiselleprive.chanel.com Photos by Lady San Pedro and Jaime Sese.

MADEMOISELLE PRIVÉ IS CHAPTER THREE OF CHRISTMAS TRIO:
A THREE-PART STORY FEATURING SOME OF LONDON'S BIGGEST AUTUMN EXHIBITIONS.

VIEW ALL STORIES

That Past, Present, Future

IT'S THE PAST. IT'S THE PRESENT. IT'S THE FUTURE. Louis Vuitton Series 3 - Past, Present, Future brought together all three in an immersive exhibition reinterpreting the fashion show. Third in artistic director Nicolas Ghesquière's Series installations, the exhibit showcased the influences and creative process behind the house's Autumn-Winter 2015 collection.

Craftsmen in film, and in person, meticulously created luxurious leather goods. Models put on an infinite runway show on multiple screens. 3D-printed "avatars" melded out of walls with eye candy accessories. It's thematic how past, present and future were assembled in the exhibit. Past existed in heritage influences and the creative process, present manifested through a collection currently available in-store, and future radiated through technology, all stamped with the Louis Vuitton savoir faire.

"This isn't about celebrating the heritage of Louis Vuitton - we've done that and we do that but it's not what the exhibition is about." explained Louis Vuitton CEO Michael Burke. "This isn't a Vuitton lesson. I just want them to feel it."

The feeling was definitely there, of curiosity and desire. Watching "Artists' Hands" construct the petite malle felt strangely hypnotic, as did watching the models walk on loop like life-sized GIFs. The 13-room journey through Series 3 transcended many aspects of the fashion show, from schedule to duration and accessibility. Where traditional shows offer short previews to a limited audience, months before a collection is available, the exhibit provided the public a month-long presentation of what they can actually purchase in the present.

Perhaps "the future" also figures in the exhibit's transendence of a fashion show. It's not something that whizzes by in minutes, captured by a hashtagging front row. We're not seeing it through our mobile phones while sitting in a bus or loitering in bed. "In this digital era, fashion shows are diffused online and immediately accessible for the public." Points out Ghesquière. "But it takes more than that to feel the ambiance and share the intense creativity, energy and emotion around one show."

Besides, you can't taste food off a screen. Those light bites on that Louis Vuitton menu were actually quite yum. #onetrackmind

Louis Vuitton Series 3 - Past, Present, Future at 180 Strand, September 21 - October 18, 2015. uk.louisvuitton.com Photos by Lady San Pedro.

LOUIS VUITTON SERIES 3 IS CHAPTER ONE OF CHRISTMAS TRIO:
A THREE-PART STORY FEATURING SOME OF LONDON'S BIGGEST AUTUMN EXHIBITIONS.

VIEW ALL STORIES

That Amazing Grace

WHEN THINKING OF STORAGE OR TRANSPORT CONTAINERS, few things come to mind as automatically as a box does. Typically rigid and rectangular, boxes serve to permanently store or temporarily transport items of endless sorts. Chocolates, cigarettes, jewelry, tools, gifts, lunch, ballots, pizza, cake and perfume, among a world of other items, all come in boxes, proving them to be extremely versatile and functional objects.

In the realm of leather goods, box-type bags lend a dignified air to their carriers, as in the case of briefcases and travel trunks, which traditionally contain legal briefs and personal belongings, respectively. The Grace Box Collection from Mark Cross was inspired by an overnight case: the one toted by Grace Kelly in Hitchcock's Rear Window. The overnight case was in fact an original Mark Cross too, updated into the current model in leather and Plexiglas versions.

Shown here in a muted "Mouse" Saffiano, the pocketbook-sized bag is smart, dainty and luxuriously subdued. It's perhaps the only box I wouldn't keep cookies in, and the only "Mouse" I hope to hold.

They say it's hip to be square. In this case, I say it's sumptuous!

Grace Small Box Saffiano Mouse by Mark Cross, markcross1845.com

That Angel Style

WITH 70S FASHION MAKING ITS BIGGEST COMEBACK YET, who better to turn to for guidance than the original heaven-sent darlings of bell bottoms past? Sabrina, Jill and Kelly came into my life through afternoon reruns in my teens, long before Lucy, Drew and Cameron throttled into the millennium. The original Charlie's Angels provided a delightful contrast to the early 2000s, when volume-deprived rebonded hair had just become what would be at least a decade-long trend, along with the equally volume-deprived, seemingly-undying skinny jean.

Fortunately, nothing lasts forever. The past five years or so began to see denim loosen up a little with boyfriend and mom jeans gaining their moments and adherents. Men don't particularly love them but they've never been ecstatic about us wearing the pants anyway. So, carry on.

Spring-Summer 2015 saw denims measuring wide from bottom to bottom and long from high waist to floor. Accompanied by fluttering fringes and billowing blouses, the volume-valiant cuts lend grace and stature, unabashedly declaring "more is more." Farrah Fawcet wore a pair in her iconic skateboard chase at Griffith Park, obviously with the help of a stunt double, but memorable nonetheless. She may have been the most popular of the angels but I feel compelled to take my cue from Jaclyn Smith, the super-sleuth namesake of yours truly: Lady Jacklyn San Pedro.

So will I in fact emulate the Charlie's Angels alumna and embrace lush, volumized hair and jeans? Vogue's Laura Weir posits that "Only now does it feel entirely credible to covet and cavort in flares and fringing without it feeling like a costume." That's comforting. But who minds looking like an Angel anyway? And where are my hair rollers?

Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett-Majors and Jaclyn Smith from Charlie's Angels, 1976 - 1981.