Simon Doonan Demonstrates the L'Wren Scott Lula Bag "Whoosh"

By Fawnia Soo Hoo Jun 10, 2011, 1:10pm EDT

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Earlier this week, fashion designer and stylist to the stars L'Wren Scott personally launched her Lula handbag collection exclusively at Barneys New York. The statuesque former model looked très chic in a sleek and elegant blush-hued suit as she held court at a blogger breakfast discussion moderated by the very dapper O Magazine creative director Adam Glassman. Barneys creative ambassador-at-large and consummate professional Simon Doonan was wearing his blogger hat for the morning—he writes for the Barneys The Window blog—and was sitting in the audience with the rest of us. Front row, though, of course.

A warm and talkative L'Wren Scott was very excited to show off her new Lula line of super-luxe, elegantly structured and thoughtfully practical bags (priced between $1890 for a clutch and $20,500 for an exotic skin handbag) handmade from smooth leathers and plush exotic skins. "It's named after my mother," explained L'Wren in regards to the inspiration behind Lula. "She always had a very chic and sleek bag and it always made a sound. Every time she would come home, I would hear the noise of the bag sitting down and the bag closing."

Watch Simon Doonan demonstrate the "whoosh" closure sound of the Lula bag:

L'Wren took the time to chat with the bloggers and share her thoughts on design and Lula, deflect inquiries about a hush-hush project that she's working on, joining Twitter (@lwrenscott) and dressing Oprah. (By the way, if you're wondering which Lula bag rings in at $20,500? It's the large plush croc style that L'Wren carried to the breakfast.) Here are some highlights:

L'Wren won't be carrying a Jumbo or Birkin bag anytime soon:

I've never been an "it" girl or an it-bag [kind of girl], so I can't really tell you about an "it bag", I'm afraid. I just like things that are classic and timeless. I like to have things that transcend trends and if you make something kind of cool and stylish, you make it your own. But trendy is not really in my mantra.

She probably doesn't shop at H&M, either:

I don't like fast food either, really. I just think there are so many things you need in a year. We always want more, but fast fashion...I'm just into creating things that are sustainable luxury, things that will stay in you closet, that you can always rely on, things that last.

Her style icons came from the golden age of Hollywood:

I didn't quite grow up in a tabloid culture world. It wasn't very materialistic where I came from, so for me my icons were when I paid to go to the dollar theater in my little town. I watched black and white movies. That was my entertainment on the weekends.

She found out that Oprah wore her dress at the same time as the rest of the world:

I saw the end of her show and I was in tears like everyone else. It was just so emotional. It was just a really emotional thing to see her giving her goodbye to her fans. It was really emotional, I thought. I just saw the end of it and I was so, 'aw' and then I noticed the dress. But before I noticed how the dress fit, I just noticed she looked so beautiful.

She was very relieved to discover that bloggers aren't mean, pasty hobbit-like creatures who just emerged from their underground computer bunker:

I never met a blogger before and I read your blogs sometimes and I'm really scared. I mean do people ever get to see them [bloggers]? Everyone has this perception that the bloggers say horrible things about you and they hide behind their computers and you never see them. That's what fashion people say to me, "Who are all these bloggers?!". So I was literally calling my girlfriends saying, "I'm having breakfast with BLOGGERS".

The pouch clutches (the black one holds an iPad, too), plus the complete line of handbags starting at $2300 for basic leather.
A view from the blogger audience. See, we don't bite.
Was L'Wren a model by any chance?
Adam Glassman, L'Wren Scott and Simon Doonan mug for the breakfast paps
The insides of a Lula bag. Check out the iPad pocket on the left. Pretty snazzy.
L'Wren's own $20,500 creation. Hey, she made it, she should carry it, right?