Bonnie Bojangles

Bonnie Cashin: Considered one of the most significant pioneers of designer ready-to-wear, more commonly called sportswear, in America. Among the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful designers of the 20th century, Cashin used an intellectual, artistic, and independent approach to fashion...She initiated the use of industrial hardware on clothing and accessories, most famously with the brass toggle that she incorporated into her handbag designs for Coach, the company for which she launched a women accessories division in 1963...Cashin is also credited with introducing the concept of layering to fashion. Bonnie Cashin. (2009, April 17). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 18, 2009, from Wikipedia.

Considering how much Bonnie Cashin did for the fashion industry, I find it a great tragedy that I had no idea who she was until spotting the Coach Bonnie Cashin tote in the February 2009 issue of Teen Vogue (which arrived in my mailbox to eagerly awaiting hands just a few days after Christmas), and doing a bit of research on my home away from home – the World Wide Web. Since then I have grown to love the fashion pioneer as much as Diana Vreeland, Coco Chanel, and Dorothy Parker.

But after surfing the Coach website, and searching for any mention of the Bonnie Collection for months upon months, I began to think that the release of the tribute series featuring totes and t-shirts depicting the sketches of chic ladies about town had been pushed back. Or, even worse, halted altogether. Then one day, on a fluke, I visited Coach.com, and there they were in all of their colorful, cartoon-inspired glory; just waiting to be snatched up by the fashionista who is not restrained by a budget (aka not me).

What I love so much about this collection is that not only are the sketches extremely whimsical and innocent; but the little phrases and sayings that dot each bag in hip text bubbles are akin to receiving a note from your fashion-wise best friend. Never before did I think it imaginable that I would be so taken with something as childlike as the Bonnie Cashin Collection; but between the cotton candy inspired colors and the words of fashion wisdom, these pieces have become the apple of my eye, and are quickly making their way to the tip top of my wish list.


Fashionably yours!


Thanks to Splendicity, Talking Shopping, and Handbag Report for the pictures.