SHE’S MY HEROINE

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Teresa Cannata'

One of my first bag memories is a mystery – a brown bag sitting on the top shelf of my mother’s closet. She never used it, yet I fantasized about it every time I saw her closet open. Finally, when I was a teenager, she allowed me to use it and I felt so grown-up! It was a frame bag from the late Sixties, totally out of place in the Nineties, and I loved it for being a jarring note in my grunge-y outfits. That must be the one and only structured bag I’ve ever carried, but now I wouldn’t mind have something similar in my collection. The new Heroine bag by Alexander McQueen could be a good option.

It’s part of the fall/winter 2012 collection and has everything it takes to become a classic. The Heroine was not born to be an it bag, because it was designed to be a permanent presence in a woman’s wardrobe. What are the details which make it a keeper? Its structured quality, of course, along with some interesting elements: the expandable body (thanks to two side zips), the top handles and the lovely cover flap. The small and medium versions are available, in a number of different materials: black leather, antique python and suede. My favourite is the one made of red leather, the best vibrant colour for accessories.

It’s not the first time a red Alexander McQueen bag tickles my imagination. In 2005 he launched the Novak bag as part of the fall/winter collection. The structured, pyramid-shaped bag was a homage to the heroines of Alfred Hitchcock’s films, the source of reference of that collection (McQueen called it The Man Who Knew Too Much, the title of a 1956 Hitchcock movie, starring Doris Day and James Stewart). I like thinking there’s a thread connecting the two bags, in line with the work Sarah Burton is doing to respect the brand’s founder’s heritage.

http://http://www.alexandermcqueen.eu