It’s a spring night in a crowded corner of Barneys, and Anya Hindmarch is surrounded by posh adults (editors, stylists, Meryl Streep’s daughter Mamie Gummer) all pining for one of her stickers — luxurious leather versions of the kind you’d find on a second-grader’s three-prong folder.
“Stickers in school were my only way of doing fashion,” explains the London-based accessories designer, 47, who was reared at a strict convent school in Essex, England. “So I was playing with that, and just made them really beautiful.”
The designer’s classic, unadorned handbags are a perennial hit with established celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Kate Moss, but her playful labels are now attracting stars from a new, social media-obsessed generation. Cases in point: Cara Delevingne, who’s affixed her name in Hindmarch letters to a phone case, and It blogger Chiara Ferragni, who’s spelled hers on an Hermès tote.
Indeed, cheeky insignia are the main attraction at the March soiree celebrating Hindmarch’s exclusive new shop-in-shop at Barneys. While her colorful spring collection of totes and clutches festoons the walls, the well-heeled women in attendance clamor over emoji shapes and letters they can tack on to bags, phones and just about anything else in their closets.
“I love bespoke, kind of personalized fashion, but I also like grown-up things [that are] slightly disrupted Hindmarch tells Alexa. “There’s something quite fun about a really grown-up bag with something just stuck on the side — it feels a bit irreverent and naughty, and I like that about fashion.”
Hindmarch founded her eponymous brand in 1987. Since then, she’s charmed insiders and stars alike with accessories that exemplify quality, craftsmanship and — gasp! — a sense of humor.
“For me, luxury is something that’s personal, it’s a story that you have,” Hindmarch says. “And I like the fact that you can laugh about something [on an item] because it’s your nickname or it’s some funny message,” she adds. “I think it makes it rather more special.”
