A few magazines and sites recently stated that the revamped Roberta di Camerino "Bigné" bag is the latest “It” bag. Though I have great respect for this historical Italian brand, I don't find this bag particularly exciting as I think its fuchsia details make it look a bit too cheap for my tastes.
The Italian brand Roberta di Camerino was established by Giuliana Coen Camerino, who first started designing red, blue and green bags embroidered with golden motifs and with the brand’s initials during her forced exile in Switzerland where she flew with her husband after the racial laws were passed.
At the end of the war, Giuliana went back to Venice and her bags became an instant hit both in Italy and abroad. Even before the birth of the "made in Italy", many international fashionistas already loved her bags. Journalist Elsa Maxwell favoured the red and green velvet trunk-shaped “Bagonghi” bag, while actress Eleonora Rossi Drago opted for a black and beige Bagonghi, a bag that also Grace Kelly loved.
Giuliana Coen Camerino's first creation was a bucket-shaped bag she had made by disassembling and reassembling an old bag. All the designs that followed were iconic and striking, made with the help of highly-skilled Venetian craftsmen: brass artisans helped her forging the studs and locks for her bags; textile experts created a type of velvet (technically called in Italian "velluto soprarizzo") woven on ancient looms and in the darkness to preserve the uniqueness and preciousness of this fabric. From accessories the designer expanded into clothes, designing at first collections characterised by bold colours and simple and geometric lines with ironic trompe-l'oeil prints of buttons, shirt cuffs and pockets.
Last summer the Sixty Group bought Roberta di Camerino. I'm not a great fan of Sixty's brands, but I know the line of bags they re-launched for Roberta di Camerino’s Spring/Summer 2009 was created respecting the principles of the historical maison (apparently, the velvets used for Roberta di Camerino’s S/S 09 evening bags are still handmade).
I developed a passion for Roberta di Camerino’s creations when I was a little girl as my aunt owned a few garments and accessories by the designer, and she also owned what I thought was an extraordinarily chic-looking bag. Well, to tell you the truth she still owns it and keeps it well guarded from me as she knows I have the bad tendency to steal clothes and accessories I like from my relatives' wardrobes.
My aunt's bag is not as soft as a “Bigné” nor as rigid as a “Bagonghi”, but has a sort of '40s look; it's made of dark red chamois leather and features a simple but beautiful swirling black décor on its front, back and on its sides. There's no classic “R” letter outside the bag, but on a small pocket inside the bag there is written "Made in Italy by Roberta di Camerino". To open the bag you have to squeeze in the two little brass balls on the barrel-shaped clasp, a system that I simply love as it allows the bag to have a linear shape that remains virtually unbroken by its opening.
As my aunt took good care of it, the bag is in an amazing condition, but you could easily guess from the materials used to make it that this is the sort of bag that could last forever and that, no matter what you’re wearing, can really make you feel as glamorous as a true fashion icon while you’re carrying it.
If you ever happen to be in Venice and want to know more about Roberta di Camerino, don’t forget to visit the designer’s atelier located in Palazzo Loredan Grifalconi, I’m sure you’ll find there many accessories that will inspire you and make you fall in love with this historical fashion house.
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