Summer’s Most Charming Bags Are Made in India, Inspired by Japan, and Arriving in New York Today
Emily Levine gallery
A certain Vogue editor once said the eye has to travel, and Emily Levine is a case in point. Her brand-new line of bags and jewelry is a visual representation of where she’s lived and the places she’s traveled, starting with a childhood spent between New York and Umbria, Italy, and ending with a few trips much further east.
After graduating from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2013, she moved to Milan to work for Etro, specifically focusing on embroideries and embellishments. Three years in, she daydreamed about starting her own line, but it wasn’t until she made it to Japan that the idea really crystallized. “After spending a month in Japan, I was completely inspired by the simplicity of form and the concept of wabi-sabi—accepting and appreciating imperfections and seeing them as beautiful,” Levine says. With a rough sketch of one bag, she began researching factories all over the world, specifically small, family-run operations that specialize in handwork and craftsmanship. Naturally, that led her to India—and two weeks later, she was flying to Delhi to visit a few factories in person.
“When I got to India, the two worlds just connected: The simplicity and the attention to detail I’d seen in Japan was represented [in a similar way] in the Indian silk saris.” As a result, many of the bags she’s been developing over the past few months are influenced by both places: Her knotted Dumpling bag takes its shape from the Japanese treat, but each is made from a recycled silk sari Levine handpicks in India. The larger Tokyo magnet bag is made from silk saris, too, and the sleek wooden closure is hand-carved in Jaipur, India. Other bags are hand-crocheted or hand-beaded in India, and several are fancy enough to replace your evening clutch. As I was flipping through these photos on my desktop, a colleague got a glimpse of the rose velvet beaded pouch and immediately exclaimed, “What is that?! I’ve been looking for an evening bag exactly like that.” The women who are discovering Levine on Instagram have felt a similar emotional connection to the bags; they have a touch of the crafty spirit that’s in the air right now, but with the charm and artfulness you can’t find at larger brands. There’s no comparison to the handwork and craftsmanship; several of these bags take weeks to finish by hand, and the women in rural India who make them can work from home and support their families.
Levine’s jewelry has a sentimental pull to it as well. The assortment ranges from bright, easy-to-layer necklaces to beaded hoops and a rainbow of wooden bangles, all of which Levine piles on in a spontaneous, offhand way. She makes some of it herself but also collaborates with a jeweler in Delhi who hand-carves her gold flower earrings and medallion necklaces. “My jewelry is mainly based on nostalgia,” she says. “As little girls, we all remember wearing colorful beaded jewelry, walking on the beach looking for shells. Those are the feelings I wanted to capture again.”
Levine has been cultivating that mood on Instagram, and she launched her brand IRL through a successful pop-up during Milan’s Design Week in April. Starting today, her bags and jewelry will be available in New York for the first time in a one-week pop-up right in the heart of Nolita. We have a feeling her stock will go fast, not only because it’s exactly what we want to buy right now, but because the prices are too good to pass up. Bags start at $85 for hand-beaded pouches, topping out around $300, and jewelry starts at just $6 for gold-plated rings, with more expensive pieces hovering around $75. Levine’s goal for the space, aside from boosting awareness of her brand, is simple: “I want everyone to walk out with a smile.” We’re smiling already, and we haven’t even seen it yet. Shop the collection this week at 252 Mott Street—and if you aren’t in New York, she’s launching her e-commerce site this afternoon, so you can get a Dumpling bag or shell earring anytime, anywhere.
