I know I did. I just love its fresh color combination of a light dove gray and off-white. It’s a different take on the checkerboard print of the classic brown Damier with the same honey-colored lining.
Azur evokes the spirit of travel, the youthfulness and chicness of the French summer and images of the French Riviera. In France, the word "azure" is often used to describe the Mediterranean Sea.
Since it’s a permanent range, you can look forward to new styles in the future, but the initial offerings this November are the three iconic bags: the Speedy 30, Keepall and Noé.
Adding to the 2007 Cruise Collection are two new handbags called Saleya, a zippered tote, and Pampelonne, a rope-handled beach tote.
Some hard-framed pieces will also be available, including the Boîte Flacons vanity case and the Coffrets à Merveilles trinket box.
Damier Azur will also be available as made-to-order hard suitcases or hatboxes. Accessories include hair cubes, charms and trinkets.
Exact prices are not available at the moment, but are estimated to be just slightly higher than the current Damier line, which ranges from P35,000 to P90,000 for handbags, up to P150,000 for luggage, and from P15,000 to P35,000 for small leather goods.
For the 2007 Cruise Collection, artistic director Marc Jacobs created pretty outfits inspired by the New Look of the Fifties.
He cited the influence of American fashion designer Claire McCardell, whose work is revered by every Parsons fashion student. (Both Jacobs and McCardell attended Parsons School of Design.)
McCardell is known for her chic, comfortable sportswear for women, beachwear and playsuits. Her innovations include wrap dresses with deep armholes, side pockets, visible hardware closures, dirndl skirts, and strapless tube tops.
For this cruise collection, Marc Jacobs created slip-on dresses, fluid skirts, little tops and ballet flats.
Wide or draped tops are paired with pencil skirts, and the reverse also happens in skinny tops paired with bubble or ballerina skirts. (The Hong Kong-based models at the presentation really looked like 1950s Barbie dolls standing in a row.)
Jersey pieces, nautical stripes and flirty cocktail dresses in bold black and beige check complete the range, along with candy-colored sandals, flip-flops, black ballet pumps with pretty ties, flat, wedge and high-heeled rubber sandals, and buckled Harajuku flats.
For me, the biggest surprise was the announcement of Marc Jacobs’ collaboration with British stylist Judy Blame, whose work I have followed and admired since 1985.
Judy Blame, a major figure in the Punk movement, is known for creating accessories using found objects like safety pins, paper clips, ribbons, crosses and twine.
He is currently red-hot, having created special-edition shirts for Fred Perry and edgy, one-off accessories for Comme des Garçons.
For Louis Vuitton, Judy Blame embellishes key pieces in monogram denim shorts and jackets with his signature trinkets using LV buttons, chains and charms. Two denim bags are reinvented and given the "Blame touch" with metal chains and embroidered buttons.
To me, it looks as though Blame was allowed to enter the Louis Vuitton workroom and given the freedom to play with whatever materials were lying about – with Marc Jacobs watching, of course.
The end result is really a marriage between Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs and Judy Blame, with the spirit of Claire McCardell.