Anya Hindmarch’s collection is all about nostalgic elegance and creative fun

It’s back to school with Anya Hindmarch, as the British handbag designer’s vibrant stickers-inspired spring/summer 2015 collection arrives in town. Enthused by school-day nostalgia, the playful and striking collection draws from Hindmarch’s schoolgirl hobby of “personalising” her notebooks and pencil cases with stickers. “I love the combination of a grown-up snakeskin handbag smothered in leather stickers,” says Hindmarch when describing the concept behind the collection.

From the standout All-Over Stickers design to whimsical eye graphics on tote bags, fried eggs on clutches and even a plaster design “ouch” coin purse, the spring/summer collection is about combining fun and creativity yet practical detailing.

Launched at an amazing show during London Fashion Week last year, that presentation saw the audience revolve 360. Models sashayed down the catwalk dressed in white overalls and were even pushed around by skeleton-garbed performers on a “funfair ride” as UV lights showcased its neon-leather bags selection with punched-out smiley faces.

The fashion show was pretty much in line with what the collection is all about — creative fun.

The All-Over Stickers bags — which have been said to be the designer’s personal favourite — uses a three-step alta fraquenza technique of embossing and debossing to ensure a textured finish that pops. In its Bathurst Satchel design in circus leather, the strap is a unique extendable neon bungee cord, with an interchangeable tonal leather strap as an option.  

For the Imperial selection of clutches, last year’s iconic Kellogg’s cornflakes design have been replaced by a variety of motifs and sayings, including a chewing gum packet — Wrigley’s Spearmint and Hubba Bubba.

Who doesn’t love a good packet of crisps? Hindmarch’s The Crisp Packet design is recasted into highlighter neon pink, yellow and orange, along with the more sophisticated black, white, emerald and electric-blue shades for this season.

It wouldn’t be back to school without your pencil case, and the brand’s pencil clutches present a nostalgic pencil design in snakeskin, as well as a chic stickered version. The pencil case pairs well with a journal design, one of the collection’s most popular items.

Along with the spring/summer collection, Anya Hindmarch also launched the Sticker Shop in collaboration with Charlotte Stockdale of Chaos Fashion, introducing a collection of luxurious embossed leather sticker accessories. True to the brand’s humorous creativity, you can now grab a fried egg or a hashtag, a favourite number, tongue-in-cheek sayings or even the weather report, and customise any handbag with your personal “artwork”.

As Hindmarch herself describes, it should be about “having your name on something, rather than mine”.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 14, 2015.