How changing times changed our design sensibilities

“I don’t think we could have stood the test of time had we not paid such close attention to what our customers want, what they buy or the direct feedback they provide us with. Covid meant we had to look and listen to your feedback even more to make sure we could keep our business alive.  Our new AW21 bag collection has taken all we’ve seen; all we’ve learnt and all you’ve asked for and suggested to us into account.”

During lockdown we learnt how to be creative, resourceful and how to make the most of what we have at our doorstep and in our homes:

Walks to the park, discovering a new local beauty spot, queuing up for a take away coffee & pastry, learning something new, time spent watching and discussing Netflix

When lockdown ended but travel was restricted, we learnt how to Staycation and how to support and embrace local businesses.

Now that the skies, restaurants, workplaces and entertainment venues have re-opened did life resume to pre-covid normal or have we changed? adapted? developed new habits?

It’s hard to imagine that we can learn so much at Nadia Minkoff London through our online bag and jewellery sales, but we can.

Roll on Winter 2021 and we’ve adapting:

Our bag sizes have changed- we now ‘live in’ our phones and want smaller, lighter, more practical bags.

We’ve re-designed the interiors of our bags too- different compartments to make life easier: sewn in card holders, key fob holders, face mask pockets, more external pockets.

Our straps are wider, softer and kinder on the shoulders. And our colour palette? goodbye ‘seasonal’ and hello ‘all year round’. Seems we as people enjoy greater freedoms these days, switching things up, doing things our way, adding vibrant colours to our winter wardrobe and basic neutrals to summer one.

In 2017 I designed The Rena Bag in memory of my mother, it’s been a great, staple classic but needed to adapt to 2021.  The all new Rena Go for Winter 21/22 is a great example of how we’ve adapted:

  • The Rena Go a fair bit smaller: at just under 2/3rds of the original Rena that’s a big drop in size!
  • The layout of the compartments and pockets in The Rena Go is designed to make everything visible at a glance- no need to rummage in the bag looking for that pen, lipstick, phone. But of course the all vital sewn-in key fob remains, you have no idea just how happy that key fob makes me, so useful!
  • Internally and externally we have maximised the space with a full size outside pouch and clever detailing inside
  • The new strap is a wide, soft cotton webbing. Not only is it comfortable so you can wear your bag crossbody or on the shoulder it is detachable so you can pack the bag away easily into a small suitcase if your flying light
  • The all new gunmetal plated hardware give compliments the modern, minimalist shape of the bag,but best of all will work with any jewellery plating be it gold, silver or gunemtal.
  • And the colours? classic Grey, Warm Honey, Fresh Aqua Blue

Of course, we test and re-test all our bags at the office, at home and outside.

We sent our Rena Go on a short Brighton staycation, which involved walking, cycling, beach strolling, eating out, drinking out and … more eating out.

It was perfect and I think my mum Rena would have approved….Normally she would have gone for Grey but I think this time round she would have gone for the Aqua Blue , Blue was her favourite colour.

Out catching colours

I’m sure that for many other small business owners like myself , life since the first Covid lockdown in March has been a daily challenge with the unknown. I realise I’ve been so ‘consumed’ with my effort to keep going and to find a strategy to see the business through Lockdown and beyond,that I’ve taken no ‘time out’ to do some of the most fundamental things that have been my core inspiration. Little did I know when I took off the last 2 weekends in October that my luck was in, lockdown is back as of November. I was fortunate to re-charge my batteries on time.

For my first inspirational weekend off , I ventured out of London to the Chiltern Hills for some autumnal inspiration. ‘Catching’ colours as I call it.

I always choose my new season colour palette from nature, match the images to my desired Pantones and start forming my range

Here I am, lost in my thoughts

with my Silver Abstraction Pouch, I mean why not do muddy walks with a shiny silver bag?

The Undergrowth Collection/Spring Summer 2019

undergrowth

noun

BRITISH

  1. a dense growth of shrubs and other plants, especially under trees in woodland.

“they cleared a path through the undergrowth”

Eliot Hodgkin, Undergrowth 1941 and Two plants by Lucien Freud 1977 (Tate collection) are the inspiration behind the new Nadia Minkoff London summer 2019 collection.

“I was immediately drawn to both these painting because of their meticulous detail and soft, subtle, earthy colour pallet. Having researched them the story of how and why they came to be, really resonated with me”

new-forest

Eliot Hodgkin painted ‘Undergrowth’ in London during his days off while serving as an air-raid warden

‘What I want to paint are the things that have been seen so often that people no longer notice them.’

‘Two Plants’ by Lucien Freud took 3 years to complete. He describes it as ‘lots of little portraits of leaves’, adding ‘I wanted it to have a really biological feeling of things growing and fading and leaves coming up and others dying’.

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Blush,Beige, Yellow, Green and Tan are the key colours for the Undergrowth collection with pops of blue and orange.

angel beige inside

There is movement in the soft fringing of The Angel bags

borough beige and blush

Architectural structure in the form of the Borough bags

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And layers to explore in the Richmond midi horizon.

The Nadia Minkoff flower logo has been reinterpreted as a 3D Origami flower adding softness and optimism   “my interpretation of things growing  and fading”

borough ball

“what I would describe as ‘undergrowth’ is definitely shaping the world we live in, for better or for worse both politically and culturally. Fashion as we know always draws from art and is often a political statement. For all the unrest and uncertainty, I was determined to make My Nadia Minkoff London summer 2019 collection a positive one, all about the beauty in noticing things that we no longer notice”

colour-palette

Artisan made from the finest leathers, in small batches and with Zero waste, much time and thought is invested into each and every bag  “at Nadia Minkoff London we think about the things you see and the things you don’t, anything to make sure that your journey with our bag is a better one”

The Angel fringe beige 2

Photography: Oliver Papp

Model: Eloise Hymas

Styling and Make-up: Jonas Oliver

In your stride or how to get your bag to multi task for you

Come February and we all want a wardrobe update, could be a clothing update,  a shoe update or a bag update, even if we don’t really really need it… we kind of do.

Interestingly at Nadia Minkoff London we think there is a methodology of getting your bag to multi task for you, seriously we do!

So just the one bag update to see you through transitional (i.e. in between winter and summer) as in right now, followed by a great summer innings and back again for Fall transition (i.e from the end of the summer hols till before the festive season).

The key is actually in the contrast colours you wear your bag with.  For demonstration purposes we’ve chosen two key colours:

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Black , in the form of our Islington fringe Bucket bag

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and Orange, in the form or our Angel bag

Our thinking behind this is that black is black , always safe, always smart and just well…..always.

Orange is often referred to these day as ‘The new Black’ , a few years back it used to be anything but safe but these days it is a wardrobe staple and a safe investment.

So this is how to get your black or orange bag to multi task for you

For Winter to summer transition: wear your Black bag with orange or your Orange bag with Black

black-islington-on-orange

The-Angel-Orange-on-black

 For Summer– wear your orange bag or your black bag with white, keep it very pure and very clean

Angewl-fringe-black-on-white

orange-angel-on-white

For Fall transition– wear your orange bag or your black bag with beige and frame with a little more black- black shoes or boots, black scarf or black coat.

orange-angle-with-beige-model-shot

The-Islington-fringe,-black with beige

Colour blocking is always fresh, so take each season in your stride, it’s that simple!

The HH Collection

 

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Howard Hodgkin ‘Absent Friends’ retrospective at The National Portrait gallery held in March 2017, is the backbone and inspiration to the latest Nadia Minkoff London collection

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“Howard Hodgkin’s powerful use of colour as well as his painted frames ,removing standard borders and boundaries, encouraged me to step out of my colour palette ‘comfort zone’ and produce a vibrant range of multi coloured, multi textured handbags.”

HH2

photoshoot

HH3

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Often described as a ‘slow artist’ in his early years, his paintings despite their apparent fluidity and spontaneity, took years if not months to complete.

“the whole idea of slow appeals to me greatly, at a time when society wants everything immediate, at the press of a button and increasingly faster I take comfort in the whole ‘slow’ movement. Our UK made Fitzrovia bags are exactly that: one at a time, slow, refined, tactile. I love them, not just visually or from a wearable point of view but because I know how much care has been invested in making each and every one”

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The Nadia Minkoff London ‘HH collection’ is now available to buy online and through leading stockists in the UK and worldwide

The Rena bag… with a touch of French

Location: Chelsea Harbour

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Model: Emilie R

Bag: The Rena bag in Taupe

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Coat: Sandro, Paris

Lipstick: ‘Bad blood’ by Urban Decay

Photograhy: Brian Minkoff

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All but given up on our British summer? well we certainly have at NM HQ. So, here’s a quick masterclass in how, if you are French and experiencing a London summer, you transforms our cool Rena bag into something very chic and pretty hot in just 3 easy steps:

1)Remove the detachable strap- you now have a soft, oversized clutch bag with contrast detailing around the Zips

2) Add red coat

3) Apply red lipstick

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When the British sun comes out, catch a snap of it!

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Welcome to my Geo State

‘clean lines, soft hues and functional details are key to our latest offering of bags and jewellery. Sleek and sophisticated with added zest for good measure’

the-richmond-yellow-web-size

The Richmond midi in yellow

That time of year again, new season, new collection, new journey. So how did I get here?

As ever, so much thought and time goes into every detail of a new range but at the core it’s always the inspiration that dictates.

So here we go, the ‘final cut’ of my inspiration, my heartbeat which led me from the start and culminated in my very own Geo State.

distillate-iv-2008-antony-gormley

DISTILLATE-IV,-2008-Antony-Gormley

 

ceramic-glazes-slips

ceramic-glazes-slips

the-laguna-garzon-bridge-uruguay

The-Laguna-Garzon-bridge,-Uruguay

trellik-tower-london-w10Trellik tower, London W10erica-wakerly-angles-wallpaper

Erica-Wakerly-Angles-Wallpaper

geo-pattern

Geometric print box

 

secretsoundsecondsun-tumblr

secretsoundsecondsun.tumblr

liubov-popova-non-objective-composition-c-1920

Liubov-Popova-Non-Objective-Composition,-c.1920

antony-gormley-quantum-void-iii

Antony-Gormley,-Quantum-Void-III

 

And so my journey has a happy ending, a Geo state was created, from Geo basics to Geo statements. Made to punctuate and elevate each outfit, each mood and each occasion, finely crafted with a  decidedly modern edge .Come join my state!

 

Get the Look

Delighted to see yet more beautiful collaborations thank to Swarovski and Wolf & Badger. This time Blogger Tamara Kalinic takes us on a metallic journey with a hint of pink and a lot of silver . Full details can be found in her blog, but for those  keen to get the low down on her jewellery here we go:

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Stack you rings! Tamara is wearing our Kate Cocktail ring in silver teamed up with our Crystal patina H ring in Sterling silver 

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Don’t forget those all important earrings, Tamara wears our Rectangular drop stone earrings in crystal 

rectangular-drop-stone-earrings-crystal-patina

All our jewellery is artisan made in the UK,hypoallergenic, fine plated in Sterling Silver or 18ct gold and uses the finest Swarovski crystal but best of all?? It sparkles!!!

Tamara is photographed by The Street Muse/Melanie Galea

From inspiration to presentation

After months of preparation the first showing of our Spring/Summer 2017 collection kicked off during Scoop & the City, held at The Old Billingsgate Market mid-July.

Having drawn our inspiration from London, from nature and from living a life of handbags & jewellery, with a clear vision and complete conviction we finalised our range, instructed and waited for the samples to arrive.

sunflowers

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The-shard

tower-Hill-and-City-Hall

It was a painful wait, because the bulk of the samples just didn’t turn up and as the deadline drew closer… a week closer, 5 days closer, 3 days closer we were beginning to doubt our chances.

With 2 days to go, the samples arrived, last minute is far from ideal but it’s a whole lot better than a ‘no show’.

bags-arrive

green-backpack

I often wonder, once the stand is all set and the show opens its doors to buyers and press if anyone really knows the true trials from inspiration to presentation.

yellow-Richmond

geo-jewellery

new-jewellery-collection

 

It was a great show, the new collection was much admired, new orders, new contacts, old contacts renewed. Circle closed, now we go from presentation to new inspiration.

Move on Summer 2016, you’re so over…

Hate to harp about the British weather but this summer (can I call it summer? ), well ok, this summer 2016 has so far been cold, wet , grey and in general miserable.

I don’t mix my personal political views with my fashion and as such be it Remain or Leave, whatever you voted for it seems like the heavens have opened up in the UK and London in particular finds itself right in the eye of the storm.

Thankfully at NM HQ we’ve managed to ‘ease’ ourselves out of Summer 2016, secured Winter 2017 some months back and here we are, getting ready to ‘sign-off’ summer 2017. With less than a month to go before we show our new Summer 2017 collections to buyers and press at Scoop International, we are entering ‘final countdown’ stage.

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The four key trends we identified for Summer 2017 were based around the 4 key elements:

AIR– all calm and mindful inspired by a new global love of Yoga, Pilates and looking after our core

EARTH– A patchwork of what we are currently as a society, a vibrant mix of cultures- a mash-up of tribal with modern and upcycling with abstract

WATER– is all about clean and luxurious, it’s about reflections and  crisp vibrant colours

Last but not least, FIRE– which for summer 2017 evokes all that is glamorous, think Flamenco: the sound, the movement, the colour. All engaging and all consuming.

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My colleagues at work will be the first to tell you that for all my love of colour and my passion for brilliant, vibrant hues I am in fact the one who reigns it all and my ‘process of elimination’ during our final selection means we end up losing that Flamenco Va Va Voom and we end up with a pretty safe canvas of cream, tan ,grey, black, the occasional navy but not much more than that.  When times are tough- safe sells and as the captain of this ship I try and avoid uncharted waters.

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Well, all I can say is that for Summer 2017, given just how gloomy 2016 feels we will be creating our very own sunshine in the brightest of yellow, the most opalescent of whites and the earthiest of greens.

Not long to wait now before we can actually show you our new creations but for now, enjoy your summer wherever you are, sun or rain.

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