Mulberry and the Model
When we spoke to model Cara Delevingne last, she hinted at an interest in designing something from her imagination: “There’s a lot I want to do. Maybe a line of—I don’t know—toothbrushes, anything . . . Who the hell knows? I’ve got ideas. I used to want to invent things. That’s all I’d do, invent stuff.”
A year later, and Delevingne has followed up on her promise, with a collaboration collection with British design house Mulberry
While shooting the brand’s Spring/Summer 2014 campaign, Mulberry and the model struck up a deal to create a line of handbags that echo Mulberry’s elegant functionality, along with unexpected touches of quirkiness from Cara. The result is striking tri-functional bag—it can be worn as a backpack, shoulder bag, or handbag—that comes in three sizes and multiple finishes .
The bags are beautiful on their own, but they also feature whimsical emblems of Delevingne’s personality hidden throughout. The “Made in England” tattoo that she sports on the bottom of her foot is stamped onto the bottom of every bag. Lion rivets based on the lion tattoo on her index finger feature prominently in the collection’s hardware, and each bag has a small heart patch at its opening, based on Delevingne’s heart tattoo. Of the personal touches Cara has said, “I wanted there to be hidden gems inside, based on things that are personal to me, which my tattoos definitely are.”
Mulberry, who have previously collaborated with Alexa Chung and Lana del Ray, debuted the collection at London Fashion Week over the weekend. Delevingne sported one of her creations in taupe, backpack form with lion rivets, atop a wooden swing. The set was flooded with ethereal blue light, and grey whippet dogs roamed back and forth as the swing spun to showcase the accessory. It was a fitting juxtaposition of classic elegance and novel surprise for the unpredictably magnetic model and heritage brand.
