It Bag, watch out: France's folding fan is back
11.08.10
PARIS — Neglect doing Balenciaga's "Giant City" and the other luxury purses that vie for the title of "It Bag" of the moment. If two young Parisian fashionistas have their way, next mature's must-have accessory might just be a relic resurrected from a bygone age — the folding fan.
Eloise Gilles and Raphaelle de Panafieu formerly larboard their jobs in fashion and invested their savings to rescue one of Paris' last remaining fan makers, the long-dormant strain of Duvelleroy.
Their first collection — 12 exquisite models concocted by hand from traditional fabrics like silk and feathers and stage-of-the-art materials like carbon fiber — is to make its retail debut later this month.
"Fans are not only select and feminine but they're also super practical. Whenever I go out, to parties, to restaurants and especially to clubs, I always have mine," said Panafieu, a 28-year-old who says folding fans have been her trademark ever since her confessor brought her one from Asia when she was a kid.
Source: The Associated Press