D.I.Y Saddle Bag
I may have mentioned that I am a lover of early 2000s fashion haha. In my eyes, Dior under the reign of John Galliano was the ULTIMATE in fashion. He managed to create some of the most iconic runway shows EVER and was not afraid of a theme. The Dior Ancient Egyptian collection is one of my all time faves. It features everything I want from a fashion show; theming, glamour, excessive jewellery, luxe fabrics and finishings and it’s unwearable LOL. The Saddle Bag debuted on the runway for Dior’s Spring/Summer 2000 collection - and the rest is history. It soon became the most talked-about accessory and appeared on the arm of every It Girl and soon turned into a defining piece for the fashion house. Some say that the Saddle Bag was one of the first pieces to really fit the description of “ugly-chic’. Cut in the shape of a saddle and made in MANY colourways and iterations. The bag was designed to be worn the same way as the Baguette Bag; short strapped and tight against the armpit. Beyonce and Paris Hilton both sported the bag after its runway debut, which was John Galliano’s take on a cowboy-inspired theme, and later that year the accessory sales were up more than 60%. The bag sadly lost the interest of the fashion crowd 6 years later and then Galliano left the company and more fussy and bigger bags became the sought after thing. Fast forward to 2018, and this iconic bag made its welcome return – both in Kim Jones's first collection for Dior Homme and Marai Grazia Chiuri‘s Fall/Winter 2018 collection. The bag has quickly become a staple with the it-girls rocking versions of the bag. Kim Jones did the most incredible thing and created men’s versions of this bag (not that I’m against rocking a lady’s bag) but these were a cross between a fanny pack and a crossbody bag and they come in the Dior Oblique among many other variations, including a metal version…….. which I obviously ADORE!
The Dior Homme pre-fall 2020 collection really caught my eye, the first door show in a long time. Kim Jones has managed to bring on board a different artist to collaborate with on each of his collections, the artist on this season was Shawn Stussy. The show took place in Miami Beach and the collection fits perfectly with its Havana theming. The collection was the perfect mix of high and low, couture and street chic, which is a Jonesian staple. The colours of the knitwear were PERFECTION and styled with the coloured and textured beret, wide-legged white shorts, sports socks and high top trainers and an oversized tote under the arm had me wishing for a piece of it! Much to my delight, I found that ASOS did a pretty damn good dupe of said jumper so it instantly got saved to my wishlist. The colours aren’t as vivid on the ASOS version but for a mere fraction of the cost (£25) you really can’t grumble. I managed to bag this jumper while there was a 25% off event on so I got it for £20, I am sure the Dior version would have been closer to £1300! What I love about this collection, other than the colours, was the mixture of texture and casual pieces with more formal pieces. I found these black PU high waisted trousers in the ASOS sale for £22 with 20% off and thought they would work a right treat with this jumper. Taking inspiration from the designer runways is a great way to add your own unique spin to a collection. The fit of these trousers is really good, obviously high waisted (a winner every time) lose fit leg and long length. When it comes to a denim jacket I always find a vintage one has a way more interesting fit. I got this one from eBay in 2009 and I am sure I only paid a few pounds for it but it has lasted me aaaaall this time and still looks pretty new. I love the more cropped length of this jacket and the sleeves have a good amount of volume to them. I decided to throw these metallic leather platform Converse on because I bought them a few months back and have only worn them once for a blog, like a load of items in my wardrobe due to lockdown haha. I love to mix high-end items with high street and vintage; your style says more when you do your own thing as anyone with the money can just wear head to toe designer………. look at Daniella Westbrooke rocking head to toe Burberry LOL.
A Saddle bag is something I have always longed to have in my collection and when I first saw the version Kim Jones created for men, my heart stopped and I instantly fell in love with them. The main thing that always manages to put me off is the price. I very rarely make a designer purchase full-price and since Dior doesn’t do sales……. I couldn’t bring myself to buy one. Another reason is that I also love the idea of being able to add a short or longer strap to carry it differently but with the way it has been designed I don’t think that’ll be possible. I decided to run up a Saddle-esque bag. I had so much fun making the bags for my past few blogs so this one should be no different. OOOOOOOOOOH how I was wrong LOL. making this bag was pretty difficult and it didn’t exactly turn out how I had imagined it. I by no means am unhappy with the bag and I think it looks pretty decent…….. it just took a long time to put it together. I already had the vegan vinyl, black canvas lining fabric and thread so having to find and buy a zip and buckle was a breeze. Amazon Prime comes in soooo handy when you have no patience for things to be delivered haha. Designing the shape of the bag was a little more difficult than the others I’ve made, mainly because the shape is so iconic. Once I had mastered the shape the next part was to come up with a plan on how I was going to construct the bag. I always find that trial and error is the best way to learn, make a mistake and you soon find an easier and more effective way to put something together…… learn from your mistakes as they say! I just jumped into the construction and I did need to unpick and re-cut out pattern pieces but I gained something from doing that so it wasn’t all that huge of an issue. Stabilizing sew-in foam is the ONE thing that really helps to pull the bag together for the finishing. I just cut the foam a little shorter than the pattern piece (without seam allowances). For the buckle, I found this belt on Amazon and the buckle was pretty much the same as the one that Dior uses on the crossbody Saddle bags. It was only £11 and I thought I’d be able to use the polypropylene webbing for the straps too. It also came with 2 clips that I thought would have been useful if I wanted to add a strap to the bag.
Hat - ASOS
Necklace - ASOS
Jumper - ASOS
T-shirt - ASOS
Belt - ASOS
PU Trousers - ASOS
Trainers - Converse - ASOS