Le Pliage

I think we all recognise these iconic Longchamp bags. My mother has one that she's had for years and my grandmother had one before her.

Until recently I pretty much associated them with mums, aunts, granny's. Basically anyone but a twenty-something year old. That was until I went to Paris. (Did you know? I went to Paris the other week! Have I spoken about it? No? Sorry. I'll shut up...soon)
Established in 1948 Jean Cassegrain, Longchamp was first established to make leather covers for smoking pipes. In 1955 they started to produce small leather goods and this naturally extended into handbags. Longchamp are now an established luxury leather handbag and leather goods company and have recently enjoyed collaborations with Kate Moss, and more recently, Jeremy Scott.

In Paris I noticed that women of all ages were carrying Le Pliage, in all shapes and sizes and the majority of them coordinating with their outfit. Ever since I have been obsessed. 

This evening, whilst sitting inside and dodging the torrential rain I found myself browsing on the Longchamp website and discovered that, not only do they deliver to Ireland (trust me, quite rare for a brand's own website) but  they also have a facility where you can customise your own Pliage, even engraving the leather with your initials! 

I've designed mine with a black body, red stripe and my initials on the leather. All of this for only €80!

Along with the standard colours and collaborations available it's definitely worth a look on the website to see if you can find your own Longchamp bag.