When a handbag designer and a jewelry designer join creative forces, the result is part functional, part fashionable and 100 per cent luxurious.
Bowen Island resident Larissa Stefani, formerly of West Vancouver, is behind the Lloyd & Wolf brand of leather accessories and Swedish-born Liselott Montesano, now based in Vancouver, has a namesake line of handcrafted jewelry.
The two were familiar with each other's work prior to teaming up, their designs having been featured together in TV segments and articles by fashion personality and style writer Susie Wall. In fact, the frequency at which their handbags and jewelry appeared side by side in the media had Stefani thinking the pair might be kindred spirits. So she approached Montesano and proposed a collaborative project.
"I just had this idea in the back of my mind," she says. "I had never even met (Montesano) but asked her for a coffee and we met and I pulled the idea on her and thankfully she thought that it was fantastic."
The fashionable fruit of their labour is the "Susie" - a mini box bag adorned with handcrafted jewels fittingly named for the style maven who brought the two designers together. The capsule collection includes just two of the limitededition bags.
Stefani crafted the bags out of exotic animal skins, such as stingray and cayman, and finished them with lambskin trim and lamb suede lining. Meanwhile, Montesano designed the jewelled handles. One of the bags features feminine pearls and silver tassels up-cycled from an antique pair of earrings. The other has an edgier look with vintage bronze chains from the 1940s woven with oxidized silver chain and featuring goldbrushed skulls.
While the Susie bag adheres to Stefani's design preference for simplicity and clean lines, it diverges significantly from her regular handbag collection. The leathers are more exotic, the style is more sophisticated, there are none of Lloyd & Wolf's signature cone-shaped studs and, at just seven inches wide, it will fit only the essentials needed for a night out.
"Most of my other bags I try to build in as much versatility as I can," Stefani explains.
At $1,375, the Susie is definitely a luxury purchase. And once the two bags are sold, there will be no more made.
"Either one of them, they're one-of-a-kinds."
This marks the first time Stefani has collaborated with another designer since she founded Lloyd & Wolf in September 2013 and the experience working with Montesano has encouraged her to pursue other creative partnerships in the future.
"It's turned into a lovely rapport, thankfully. We have a great friendship," she says, noting the pair already have another special-release bag in the works.
"I think women need to support one another and not be in competition so collaborating with someone, to me, just is brilliant because you're working your strengths and you have somebody to work with."
Fifteen per cent of the sales price of the Susie will benefit the Cause We Care Foundation, a Vancouverbased charity that assists single mothers and their children in need.
The bags are available online at lloydandwolf.com. Stefani's regular handbag collection is also available online and is carried by Kiss and Makeup in West Vancouver and Rebecca Bree Boutique in Kitsilano. Montesano sells her jewelry at Basquiat boutique in Yaletown. For more information about her line, visit liselottmontesanojewellery.com
