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British designer Sophia Webster has made her mark in the fashion industry with daring shoe designs, darling kid's collections, and collaborations with J.Crew. Now, Webster is expanding her brand to encompass a full handbag line and open her first standalone store, WWD reports.
And sorry if you've gotten tired of hearing the phrase, "see now, buy now" because what Webster's doing is basically the fashion industry's version of "a Beyoncé." This won't be some long build up, Webster's first handbag collection is launching for spring and will be in stores like Selfridges and Saks Fifth Avenue later this month.
Webster has toyed with bags before, but they have been pretty limited to just her word bubble clutches. If we're counting imitation as flattery, though, even Webster's limited bag output has been incredibly successful as Nasty Gal did whatever's the nicest way to say "straight-up ripped off" her bags.
"I always knew that I wanted to be known for my bags as much as I'm known for my shoes," Webster tells WWD. "At the beginning it was basically just me, so I decided to focus on the shoes. Now that I have a team in place, I can make sure that the line is produced properly."
The first line of handbags have an aquatic theme and feature straps that appear to have coral reefs on them, hardware shaped like flamingoes, and leather fish and seashells hanging onto them.
The bags come in five styles: a bucket bag dubbed the Romy; the Claudie, a cross-body bag; the Izzy, a tote; plus a minaudière and envelope-shaped clutch, both of which are unnamed. There is also one of her word bubble clutches remade to fit the marine theme.
The bags will range in price from $426 to $994 and will be available on Net-a-Porter and MatchesFashion.com, in addition to the physical stockists mentioned above.
Meanwhile, Webster's first store will open in London and share a block with Christopher Kane, Roksanda Ilincic, and Simone Rocha. It sounds like the aquatic theme will also be in play there. Webster is having a flamingo-shaped chandelier constructed for the boutique. The store will open in April.