For very long now, celebrities’ looks have been dissected. Sure some of the comments can be inflammatory and unkind but for many of us, it’s where we spot the trends. It’s also our passage to discovery. An oddball silhouette is likely to get us sucked in and we are then fervently looking for the brand tag on the post. You will find me furiously checking out the accessories’ tag. I think they can elevate a look, taking a seemingly average dress to red carpet worthy.
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Priyanka Chopra was in town recently. To promote her brand Anomaly and of course, serve up some looks. And it’s on her that I spotted the Gold Rush Furbie but I am can be a bit slow when it comes to spotting things, given that this bag is now well on its way to becoming something of a cult favourite.
I caught up with the founders of Outhouse, Kaabia and Sasha Grewal on the design of the bag, where they see it going and what’s in store for Outhouse.
One of my first questions, obviously is about the popularity of this bag, which, at first look is a lot of diamante coming together to put on a show. Sasha says, “First of all, I think we launched at the right time. I’d say, and you know the entire collection had a lot riding on it. The whole idea was to create another icon that would be an amazing party bag. We launched a silver Furbie during the fashion week in March. And this is to add to its lineage. We added the golden colour because it speaks about vintage glamour and how people carried gold very boldly back in the day.”
Kaabia chimes in, “The trend has been crystals for the entire year. We saw a lot of success with the silver Furbie. And I mean, we love gold, right? Also, this is a bag that easily matches your outfit. It’s no-brainer! It’s very versatile. It does not necessarily have to be worn at weddings or something, it can be carried anywhere. It is very modern and very stylish and contemporary in terms of silhouette.”
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We do have to address the elephant in the room, the fact that the Furbie is tiny. Both Kaabia and Sasha do talk about the point, that we can barely fit in a key in the bag, quite sportingly. Maybe they are promoting some sort of minimalist trend? Sasha says, “Of course we talked about functionality. But there are many bag trends that have come for a year and gone away. But I think the size has been picking up steam and has it’s still going strong. And even if you look at the brands that are making all kinds of the crystal products, they don’t have many sizes.
Kaabia says “It depends on how you style it because we carry the bag alone. No one wants to carry those big bags for an evening out. I mean, you want to be light, right? You don’t have to be concerned about a hundred things in such an event. You may still want to do a lot of things but I feel like you can also go light. So it fits in with a nice outfit, it fits your car, it fits your lipstick, and that’s about it.”
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The conversation then veers to the craftsmanship of the bag. “The bag is the kind that moves with you when you walk. It’s not a stiff bag, you get the impression that the bag is dancing. And also, the top triangle has these irregular tassels on the side.
The whole idea was not to do something that is already out there but instead to come up with our own icon, and that was quite a challenge because there are not so many materials available in the market to play with. The bag is made of two thousand crystals. So it takes a long time, it’s a labour of love. As a brand as well, we put a lot of time into making all our pieces. When this bag went out of stock and was on pre-order, we told people that it was going to take time and they might have to wait a little bit. It takes so much time to make the bag. There’s a lot of craftsmanship, and it’s all handcrafted,” the sisters share.
We talk about who they might want to see carrying the Gold Rush Furbie, now that Priyanka Chopra Jonas has already sported one. Kaabia shares, “I believe it would be Beyonce because she has recently purchased from our brand. And I am manifesting this, I think Kim Kardashian as she goes out in a fancy outfit. That would be cool.”
Besides writing about the bags of the season, I also write about travel. Read about the Westin Pune, here.
