Fashionable and Fishy - Lulu Guinness Bags for Spring Summer 2009

Posted by Gill Hart Mar 10, 2009

If you have a weakness for handbags and you’re English like me, the chances are you are a lover of British handbag designer Lulu Guinness.

Her iconic designs are loved the world over by the non-famous and famous alike (e.g. Angelina Jolie, Madonna) for their style, attention to detail and quirky sense of humor.

Lulu Guinness latest collection, for Spring 2009 has a decidedly fishy feel. I loved the Resort range of Poodle Parlors and coiffured poodles but nothing quite pulls at the heartstrings when it comes to evoking childhood memories of summer days by the sea than her seaside-themed range of seafood restaurant prints, kissing fish and other such typically Lulu Guinness-eque designs. According to the designer “the world is your oyster” when carrying one of these bags.

There are of course the classic-styles (Carmella, Jenny, Anna and Edith) , updated to make the most of the current runway trends in colors and textures, but for me what makes a Lulu Guinness bag is Lulu's almost irreverence when it comes to the rules of fashion, and the excitement of never knowing what themes and witty slogans she is going to come up with next.

In 2006 Lulu Guinness received an OBE from HM the Queen, for her contribution to British fashion and her designs have been featured in fashion exhibitions in museums around the world. Her bags easily recognizable and highly collectable, especially her trademark Snakeskin lips clutch, striped florist basket of roses, oriental fan and silk embroidered birdcage. There is a permanent collection of Lulu Guinness bags at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum for those who want to follow the work of this designer.