Carlos Falchi Handbags - History of a Creative Brazilian Designer



Posted: Tuesday, December 20, 2005

by Henrietta Timmons
Henrietta's Handbags

Carlos Falchi was born in Minas Gerias, Brazil and got his start as a handbag designer at the age of 6 when he made handbags for his cousin. He moved to the United States and worked nights at a Manhattan bar and would wear his own clothing designs, which the patrons noticed and wanted!

Carlos continued to design and experiment and, in 1974, he came out with his Buffalo duffel bag and it was an immediate hit. The 1970’s embraced his relaxed ( and futuristic) vision of the handbag. These bags were secure, soft, and in non-traditional colors but were big enough to carry everything that you needed. In 1983 Carlos won the prestigious Coty Award for design and his bags were almost instantaneously copied.

Carlos has continued to evolve his handbags over the years and has experimented with lucious fringe and fur, bright colors, and metallic snakeskin. He also designed bags in a fixed sculpture form with sophisticated shapes that evoked images of a bats wings, flower petals, and even a harlequin’s cap!

Today his bags sell from around $48.00 for a change purse to about $800.00 for a leather design and can be found in all the best high-end department stores. His handbag philosophy can best be summed up by a quote “I want to be able to squash and trash a bag and still see it keep going." -Falchi
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)
» left by jackie
from new york 5 years 145 days ago.
yes i just bought a new collection of his called sloane & alex at thefashionplate gorgeous handbags
» left by Laura
from Houston TX 4 years 120 days ago.
Who sells Carlos Falchi bags at wholesale?
» left by Sally Zytkowski from Livonia, MI 4 years 56 days ago.
I have a circa 1988 Carlos Falch bag. Black Leather, long shoulder strap, and a large over flap made of real Cheetah skin. I think I paid $400 to $700 for it. It is in excellant condition. s
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