Saturday, March 21, 2015

Orla Kiely SS15 Mainline: Textured Leather in Slate and Lemon

Orla Kiely has returned with her Textured Leather bag collection, this time in the colors Lemon and Slate, the former being the perfect shade of yellow for the spring season with the latter probably more suitable for fall. I love these textured leather bags because they don't seem as delicate and therefore will fare better with extended use. I have last spring's Textured Leather Iris Bag in the color Cloud, which I adore (click here to see my post on this bag, which happens to be my very first Purseday post J).

Note: only a handful of these bags are showing up on the US site right now, so some prices are listed in pounds and some of the links will direct you to the UK/Worldwide site. I'm also going to put my guesses for what the US prices will be instead of converting the pounds to dollars using the current exchange rate (just because I think it'll be more accurate this way).

Textured Leather Tillie Bag
$448

Textured Leather Mini Bay Bag
$398
I'm so bummed that I missed out on last season's Embossed Stem Leather Bay Bag, which I thought was the perfect bag for fall with its sleek black leather and simple Stem print (not to mention the fact that I don't have a simple black bag in my collection yet!) So when I saw this version, I was super excited...that is until I took a closer look at the punched Stem and saw that there was a bright red lining peeking through.

I don't necessarily hate it, but I just think it takes away from the classic look I was going for. I do like the Lemon color though, which has a simple black lining underneath.

Textured Leather Margot Bag
£349 ($498)
I think the Margo Bag makes a great work bag - classic, simple, and spacious enough to hold all your things. And look, the Slate version has no red peeking through - why couldn't the Bay Bag be the same?!

What's interesting about Orla Kiely's bags this season is the random placement of the leather logo pocket. It's seen here in the bottom left corner of the Margot Bag, in a very contrasting tan leather. Oh, and it's also sideways. I think this all adds a very interesting detail, but honestly something I could do without. Again, I don't necessarily hate it, but I'd prefer it in a color that matches the bag and a centered placement. Or maybe just as a detachable card holder, as seen on the Tillie Bag above.

Textured Leather Ivy Backpack
£349 ($488)
This is an interesting little change to the Ivy Bag - the overall shape and design are the same, except now there's a couple tabs at the bottom that you can loop the straps through to convert it into a backpack - I love this option!

But there's that darn pocket again - I wonder how comfortable that would feel against your back, or if you'd notice it at all? Again, I would do away with this pocket or at least make it a detachable card holder.

Textured Leather Sweet Pea Bag
Lemon and Slate
£179 ($248)

I love how the straps can be looped twice to make it a shoulder bag versus a crossbody.

Textured Leather Big Zip Wallet
£149 ($218)

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