A doyenne of the handbag – Anya Hindmarch

|”It has been a long journey! It started in 2007 with the launch of  “I Am Not A Plastic Bag” which was a project to simply to raise awareness of the problem of single use plastic. 

It was at the beginning of us all hearing about the problems of the environment and I was approached by We Are What We Do (a social change organisation) who asked if I would get involved in trying to communicate the problem.

I knew that the platform of fashion could be a huge communicator and could help to influence people’s behaviour” – says Anya Hindmarch.

Who is this charming lady with soul fed by creativity?

Mrs.Anya AnHindmarch is a phenomenally successful creator of the handbag empire and nowadays a UK global trade ambassador.

Her favorite quote by Oscar Wilde is :

“Be yourself, everyone else is taken.”

One of her escapes in life is to watch David Attenborough’s documental movies:

 “He is a hero to me, with a voice like treacle that I could listen to forever. I admire the patience and technical skill that goes into capturing nature on film.

For me, the shows are an escape from the pace of my life and work, as well as being a humbling reminder that we are all part of the natural world”.

She started her business, aged 18, straight from school, opened her first store at 24, and by 2015 had 58 stores in 10 countries including Japan, China, and the US.

When Anya was 25 she met widowed James Seymour with three children and few years later as a couple they had two children.

“It was very instinctive and you have to follow your gut. I fell for him and I fell for the kids and it felt really right.

And I was a bold 25-year-old, having started my business young.”

In her everyday life as a mother and business women Anya Hindmarch follows her intuition and believes that

the emotion is a female super power.

In 2007, Anya ran a campaign

 I’m NOT A Plastic Bag,

the slogan was showed on a tote, to raise awareness of single-use plastic.

Her mission was to reduce the use of single-use bags.

At once 80 000 people queued in one day in UK to buy it for £5.

Her partners were few key fashion partners – Dover Street Market in London and Colette in Paris.

 All the bags sold out on the day they launched.

This lovely bag was worn by Keira Knightley, Reese Witherspoon, Duchess of Cambridge, Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner.

Anya has spent years refining the material made from plastic bottles to create a luxurious bag that will last and be sustainable.

The collection continues to grow and develop.

“This is a forever thing for us – it’s taken so long to do the research and development and you can now buy a beautiful handbag in a lovely fabric knowing that you are helping the planet by using plastic bottles.”

This project was included by Vanity Fair in their “Oscars” goodie bags.The project made a massive difference.

According to the British Retail Consortium the consumption of plastic bags in the UK reduced from 10bn before the project to 6.1bn after the project.

In February 2020, the company launched

 I Am A Plastic Bag

in response to the fact it’s estimated there are 8 billion tons of plastic on the planet.

”When we launched I’m A Plastic Bag, we closed all of our flagship stores in London during fashion week and filled the stores with 90,000 used plastic bottles –

which was part protest and part art installation because it looked rather beautiful – which we’ve then made into something that we want to keep on our shoulders instead of landfill, and that visualisation made people think”.

One of her last project is an uplifting manual for woman – “If In Doubt, Wash Your Hair” .

“I am often asked what my best piece of advice would be for a busy woman and I nearly always reply with: ‘If in doubt, wash your hair.’

It’s an answer that almost every woman seems to understand – at least, it usually elicits a lot of knowing smiles. On the one hand it is flippant, trivial.

It literally sums up how much better I feel about myself – how much more confident, how much glitter-eyed, how much better able to cope and respond – if I have freshly washed hair.

But on the other hand, I think my quip also speaks to the fact that we are all, and possibly women more than others, plagued by doubt”.

You may find some inspirational tips for  choosing accessories for your best look and more about the term accessorizing in our blog.