Botkier (5)
Botkier is a fashion designer house in New York, founded by the fashion photographer Monika Botkier. Their collections include shoes and bags. Botkier is positioned as a high-quality, yet affordable brand, targeting modern, active women who love fashion but who also seek functionality.
Website:
www.botkier.com
Botkier bags are not only gorgeous, they are also very functional. They seem to be designed with the user in mind, this making them appreciated by modern girls who don't have a lifetime to spend looking for items in their purses, especially when those purses are totes, which are extremely roomy by definition.
Botkier Rio is a tote bag with two exterior pockets on the sides, a bit unusual for this kind of bag, but surely useful for keeping a few things handy. The high-quality shiny leather is smooth, yet resistant. So is the logoed lining, made from a strong fabric. The expansion zippers on the sides can help you turn this bag into a generous storage space. There's plenty of room inside for an iPad or a small laptop, for instance, together with a few accessories and other personal items.
The bag is available in two colors: bronze metallic and cognac.
Bag size: 15.5” height x 15” width x 5.5” depth. The shoulder strap measures 6.5”
Botkier Rio Tote Bag price for any of the colors: $395 at Endless
Once more, Monkia Botkier proved that she created an approachable designer brand. The Howard Street satchel combines the edgy looks with the comfort and functionality of an everyday bag. The bag is made from finest quality leather, which is very soft and pleasant to the touch. Being so soft, the bag bottom is sagging a bit when you put stuff inside the bag, but this doesn't make it ugly. Well, it depends very much on personal preferences here: if you like slouchy bags, than the Howard satchel will be a great choice for you.
The Howard Satchel features two zippers which are fully functional and which can unzip completely around the bag. It's cool, you can then use the inner zipper compartment to store some of your secrets in there. On the front of the bag there are two D-rings, perfect for hanging a keychain or a small toy, if you're into that style. The tassels on the bag are removable, so in case you want to get rid of them for a while, there's no need to destroy them, you can put them back on again later.
While the leather for the black Howard Street satchel is pebbled and matte, the leather for the Cement Howard bag is smooth and quite shiny and the leather for the Espresso brown Howard is shiny and crinkly. The Natural Snake model is shiny and it replicates very well snake scales. All of them are very good looking, but I think I've fallen in love with the distressed leather of the brown bag.
The Botkier Howard Street satchel comes with an attachable strap which would allow you to wear it as a shoulder bag. For wearing it crossbody, you'll have to be very short, as the strap is not as long as needed in our opinion. Anyway, it's not a messenger bag, therefore I don't see this as a major drawback. You can buy the Botkier Howard Street satchel from Endless for $475
Monika Botkier – From Photographer to Fashion Designer
Written by AdminAs a photographer for fashion magazines such as Mademoiselle and Surface, Monika Botkier spotted a niche that was still uncovered in the fashion design world: approachable designer creations. Always in search for the perfect bag, Monika ended up by creating her own line of handbags, which were a happy marriage between style and functionality. Her downtown Manhattan style made this first handbags collection a success, although when she started, she only wanted to make those bags for her personal use. Actually, Monika did create a few purses for her personal use, but many women in her entourage expressed their interest in buying such handbags, so she started considering this more seriously. From here to the international recognition Botkier has managed to acquire in 2007 when she became a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, there was only one more step, translated in passion, creativity and hard work. Fashion magazines like Glamour, Vogue, Marie Claire or InStyle published articles about Botkier handbags and shoes collections and even featured them on the front cover.
After seven years of building her reputation in the fashion accessories industry, in January 2010 Monika Botkier opened her first flagship store in New York, in NoLIta district. In designing her boutique, she collaborated with interior designer Valerie Pasquiou for creating a modern and sophisticated atmosphere. Cool and chic, Botkier handbags are luxurious without being expensive, “an independent brand that marries luxury with utility” as Monika herself states on the Botkier website. Indeed the prices are in the $500 range, way less than what we’ve been used to when we talk about designer handbags.
Many celebrities such as Beyonce, Halle Berry or Megan Fox were spotted wearing Botkier creations.
Botkier Bags Collections
Here are the latest creations, covering various bag types such as satchel, hobo, crossbody, shoulder, tote or clutch. Detailed reviews of many bags in these product lines will make subjects for separate articles and will be published as we manage to write them.
Venice:
Botkier Venice crossbody clutch
Rio:
Dion
Harper
Howard:
Botkier Howard Street Satchel Bag
Brooklyn
Logan
Noa
Aiden
Tao
James
Sasha
Trigger
Sydney
Uma
Botkier Logan Satchel: New for Spring 2010, Already Sold Out
Written by Admin
The Logan satchel is so cool that the golden snake lambskin variant is already sold out on Botkier’s website. Actually I’ve just checked and all variants are sold out. There’s no wonder, for such an elegant and high quality purse, roomy enough to serve even a girl that needs lots of stuff with her all the time. The vertical and horizontal zip details and the long tassel pulls give this satchel a distinctive look or luxury. This satchel from Botkier features two handles and an adjustable shoulder strap, 17” drop. The side exterior slip pockets can be useful for keeping some small items at hand, but even if one doesn’t use them at all, they add a touch of elegance to the overall aspect of the bag. Besides, they are expandable, thanks to the surrounding zippers. The interior is lined and it features one single compartment and a multifunctional pocket. The Botkier Logan satchel is available from Endless
Made of crinkle black Italian lambskin, the Venice crossbody clutch features a top zip closure, fold-over flap detail with long tassel pulls and with a signature logo charm.
It’s a casual-chic bag, not too big, but surely enough to hold a few items such as wallet, mobile phone, lipstick and keys. Such fold over flaps seem to be the latest craze in fashion bags. The bag doesn’t have handles, but only a single, 24” long strap which is most suitable for crossbody wearing. The two exterior front pockets have zip closure, with the same long tassel pulls. The interior is fully lined and it has a zip pocket on the back wall, handy for keeping things you want to find fast inside the bag. Venice is one of the most appealing bag lines of Botkier, so it’s nice to see they are still in vogue for spring 2010.
You can buy the Botkier Venice Cross-Body, Crinkle Black clutch from Endless
