Our designer catwalk show was held at the breath taking Assembly Rooms in Bath & was staged by London Fashion Week show producers, John Walford & Rebekah Roy.

Bath in Fashion, Designer Show

We included new styles from our current SS12collection as well as two new designs created specifically for Bath in Fashion.

Gilly in Berry

New for Bath Fashion Week, the Camilla

Co founder and designer, Lucy Clayphan, commented ‘this has been a extraordinary week for us, to see our first catwalk collection introduced by Mariella Tandy, Retail Editor at Tatler, running alongside such prestigious designers as Amanda Wakeley & Jasper Conran is an honour and a privilege for our brand.’

Our new Celia in Camel

The new spring collection includes both subtle hues like the camel of the Celia, as well as bright jewel colours as the Gilly in berry.  We have tried to mix styles and colour to create a classic collection of handbags which are unique yet beautiful.

Our bestselling Lucia in camel

Our new Olivia in chestnut

So, now its back to the office to create new designs for our Autumn/Winter 2012 collection… (sharpens pencil)!

Modern Embellishment – this seems to be an emerging trend, maybe a left over from tribal last season, however it seems to be getting more sophisticated and bags are being adorned with crystals stones and bling.  Be careful not to overdo it though, less is more!

Transparency – along with the new sporting theme for clothes, bags are going ‘see through’ with a sporting twist.  Bowling bags and gym bags that offer the onlooker a peek at your personals is not something I’m keen on.  Only follow this trend if you’re squeaky clean!

Skin – it was leopard last season, this season it’s skin. Be it snake, eel, crocodile this is going to continue our love affair with our animal instincts.  Again less is more, with the more subdued and relaxed tones making a more expensive look.  Our Lola clutch is perfect with a lux matt finish and gold clasp and lock.

Ladylike Pastels & Baby hues – gorgeous powder pinks and ice cream colours have emerged as a key trend for handbags this spring.  Easy to wear and not too offensive this colour palate can see you straight through to the end of summer.  Yellow is hottest on the charts, so if you want something to brighten up your day go bright and bold with this glorious sunshine colour.

White mischief – again white seems to pop up every spring, this season it’s all about the different shades of white.  Off white, ice cream, bright white and ice all have a role to play.  Our Mariella in Vanilla cream offers you the perfect balance of café au lait with chocolate brown trim to make it easier to match with your other accessories.

Roaring twenties – we’re loving this look back at vintage, following on from last season we’re now looking at box like shapes in your handbag, a more structured look with a top handle.  Very proper, very British, very us.  Watch out for some of our new designs following this trend later this spring.

Feminine Florals – Bold florals were all over the catwalk in Milan fashion week, so expect this trend to filter down into accessories, let the bag do the talking with bright patterns and textures uplift any outfit.

Mini mini micro… Clutch bags are getting smaller by the minute; we’re now seeing palm sized bags which are cute and dinky, albeit totally impractical! Choose ones with added functionality like a built in purse or mobile phone pocket.

We guest blogged on online magazine http://www.dropofpink.com/2012/01/24/handbag-trends-for spring-summer-2012/, check it out for lots more great articles on fashion!

It’s almost as if we feel privileged to come across this brand. You know we love British handbag designers; well, Peony & Moore are one of the best.

Peony & Moore were established in 2009, so they’re still pretty new to the game, but my, they’ve made an impact. And why wouldn’t they? With beautiful Italian leathers and hand-stitching, their bags are already classics. We can’t wait to get our hands on them.

The Olivia

We love this elegant, classic bag with its beautifully rounded shape, slim side tassles and equestrian loop detail. This is the kind of bag you’ll carry around and be stopped on the street by people wondering who made it and where to get it from. It’s that beautiful. We love that this bag can be carried on the crook of the arm as well as across the body thanks to the added cross-body strap. The Olivia is made of soft Italian nubuck leather and retails for £199. Okay, okay, the Olivia is our favourite!! (No hint to P&M or anything…)

The Lucia

This hobo satchel is one great shoulder bag. It has double pockets in the front plus adjustable side straps for extra room. It features a postman’s lock flap closure and is available in Tan, Camel, Brown and Navy smooth Italian leather. The perfect every day bag. £199

The Milly

Get in quick – the Milly normally retails for £265 but is currently on sale for £199. The Milly is the perfect work bag as you can fit everything you need. Compartments for your iPad and phone, this bag can be taken from day through to the night. You can wear it in the crook of your arm, or use the across the body strap for when it’s overloaded with all your devices. As with all their bags, the Milly is hand stitched and made out of beautiful Italian leather. The Milly is available in Tan and Black.

Peony & Moore have many more bags in their collection. Please head towww.peonyandmoore.com to check them out. If you like what you see they’ve got a great online shopping service which makes everything easier. You can also follow them on Twitter: @peonyandmoore

So. Do you like what you see? We certainly do, and look forward to seeing their new designs in the future (perhaps a structured tote?) We definitely want to carry these bags!

Thanks carrythisbag.com.  Visit them for more great handbag articles!

As you get older though, I’ve noticed people stop asking what you would like.  I’ve not been asked since the age of 30, so that’s 8 long years I been receiving shower gel, tea towels and books.  There is only so much soap I can put on the shelf, and a limit to the number of ‘nice scarves’ that fit in the wardrobe.

So, this year, I thought I’d be decisive.  I bought my present to me from me in November. It’s beautiful and quite honestly just what I have been lusting after for ages.  I’ve seen them in the fashion magazines, I’ve nosed them in windows on the high street, and when I saw THE ONE recently, I was very clear and determined that it was going to be mine.  It only took 3 minutes to purchase too, so a very easy buy in my opinion. My tweed jacket with fur collar will see me well through all of 2012.  I am a happy lady. Who needs surprises anyway?

So, after this little episode, it got me thinking, are the presents you buy for yourself the best.  Well, indeed after this escapade I really and truly think they are.  You don’t have to fuss, to think, to worry about whether you’ll like it.  Will it fit? Will it suit you’re coloring?  It’s so easy, so pain free, so RIGHT.

So, here are my top five ME gifts this Christmas:

1) The Essential Leopard Clutch.  Worn with jeans to the pub or with your LBD to the office Christmas party, this will certainly put some roar into any outfit. £139

2) The Make Me Smile Wallet.  This bright pink wallet will make you smile every time you delve into it..  Such a happy moment every time you shop! £89

3) Our Lovely Lucia.  In our opinion, this is the best every day handbag of the year.  Practical, stylish and now comes in 5 colours you can have one for every work day! £199

4) The Tintamar Handbag Organiser.  An organized persons dream product!  This handy little pouch carries all your essentials in one place, and can be moved from bag to bag with ease.  Makes a perfect gift too! £29.95

5) The Marvellous Milly.  Our ‘it’ back of the season, this gorgeous handbag ticks all the boxes from function to the drop dead gorgeous lust factor.  This is an investment purchase that will keep you smart both at work and at play. £265

How do you describe to people what you do and your design style?

Peony & Moore is all about classic British style and providing handbags which are of both high quality and great design but not at a designer price tag. We like to give added value and believe you can have a great piece without paying £500+. Our designs are a mixture of both contemporary styles and a more vintage feel. We pride ourselves on ‘thoughtful’ design, therefore the bags are all well planned and well road tested! For example, we use light cotton linings so you can find your keys, we have pockets to fit a smart phone, some of the pockets have false buckles and actually use a magnet closure so you get the style element but not the fuss of practically using a buckle.

What sort of comments do you get about your designs?

We have a very loyal customer base who tend to repeat purchase from us over the year. Our bags are viewed as very high quality for the price. The leather is probably the most talked about aspect, we use Italian leathers and hardware and they just feel so much better than leathers from the far east which tend to be hard, stiff and brittle. The leather we use on the “Lucia”bag for example is buttery soft, a lovely grainy leather which is used on designer bags. We made a conscious decision to use Italian leather to ensure we had a USP over the UK  high street and offer our customers a far better quality proposition.

Our collection is also handmade, most are hand stitched so the craftsmanship and attention to detail has to be of the highest quality.

What is your background?

With a handbag addiction of my own and a great love for fashion, in 2009, I set up Peony & Moore with Pam Palmer. I have a sales & marketing background
having learnt the ropes at HJ Heinz in Brand Management. I gained my Charterted Institiute of Marketing Diploma many years ago and have built a career successfully marketing & building brands for clients. Pam Palmer has successfully run other businesses for many years & has a wealth of business acumen which complements our team. She is also a handbag addict. (This may even be a medical affliction nowadays!)

Why did you start doing what you do?

After years of marketing other businesses, I wanted to market something for myself. With a love for fashion and after extensive research and trips to the large trade fairs in Milan we recognized a gap in the market from the UK high street offering handbags up to £100 and the designer entry level handbags at £500+. We decided to fill the gap, thus Peony & Moore was created.

Which designers do you rate highly and why?

I think British design is second to none. Anya Hindmarch has been a key ambassador for handbag design, introducing classic handbags using beautiful quality leathers and hardware. I am also a Vivienne Westwood fan, for her eccentricity and brave attitude towards fashion, yet makes her collection commercial through wearability.

Tell us about your design process from concept, production and to the shelves…

Our designs start from flicking through magazines, watching trends, seeing new leathers, hardware and gaining inspiration from everyday life. Each season I will have key styles which I want to create, (a top handle, a tote, a clutch) then I sit with a sketch pad and create. Sometimes I’ll see something in the street, I have stalked an unsuspecting lady through the aisles, just to get a better look at a lock or a finish! I bring together the concept with a series of sketches & detailed brief which is sent to our craftsmen to interpret. Samples are then created which go back and forth for a few weeks, leathers are changed, often locks and clasps are mixed and matched and then a final sample is signed off between Pam and myself.
Production can then take up to 4-6 weeks, dependent on the leathers required. During production, our final sample is taken to the photographic studio for the website shots and we take to the streets, or countryside for the lifestyle shots.
Our web designer then creates the page, this is normally sat waiting to go live when the stock arrives. Once stock is approved through quality control they go onto the shelves and the product page goes live. Et viola!

How do you think your brand has developed?

Initially, we sold 5 or 6 european brands under the Peony & Moore umbrella, including GABS Florence, Gianni Chiarini and Massimo Trulli. However over the first year, it became clear to the team that we could design and manufacture better bags. Our own label collection was created a year ago (in 2010), therefore the brand is now synonymous with our own label rather than the other collections.

We are gaining a loyal following and we have gained some fantastic coverage in

RED Magazine, Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, Easy Living and Harpers to name a few.

What do you hate most about your job?

Nothing… Well, that’s not entirely true, I have to admit to being the happiest I have ever been in a career, however I do still groan at the amount of emails I get through daily!

What are your main achievements and what do you aim to achieve now?

Our best achievement to date is launching our own label collection and surviving our first 2 years in business. Our biggest challenge for the future is to get our handbags out there and build our brand.

What advice would you have for anyone starting out in?

Fashion retailing is a highly competitive market so you’ll have to work the hardest you ever have; however, keep in mind that it will be the most satisfying thing you’ve ever done.

Why do you think British design stands out on the global stage?

British design manages to successfully bridge the gap between pushing the boundaries, with eccentric style on the catwalk, and implementing commercial designs which people want to buy. We do this better than anyone else in the world. It also helps that the British are fashion junkies and we not only have great ‘fast’ fashion, but a fantastic pillar of established UK designers leading world fashion.

So, whats hot right now?  Here’s a snapshot today….next week it will change of course, but today here it is:

1) The Wrist Bag – dangling off a leather strap or chain this micro bag is more like a purse.  To be honest, I worry about where to put the nappies, wipes, ipad, kindle, notebook, mac plush glass and Chanel bronzer.  Hey ho, this may not be the trend for me.

2) Coloured Snake Skin – faux or real, snakeskin is certainly yapping at the heels of animal print this season.  Done well, its luxe to the max, done badly its on sale in GAP.

3) 1970′s Day Bags – Love this trend, vintage inspired bags have my heart racing.  Boxy shapes and petite handles, alongside lovely luxe leathers and gold turn lock clasps.  Oooh, right up my street.

4) American Southwest Cowboy inspired prints on fabric.  Umm, no. Not my scene, but I suppose lovely if you have a pair of chaps and a horse lying around which needs accessorising.

5) Patchwork. I shuddered when I saw this, and yet looking closer it does work.  Its more about mixing textures and leather finishes on handbags rather than something your granny would put on the bed. Try it, you might like it.

6) The portfolio. Again, another firm favourite, I love this shape.  Big enough to take all your daytime papers and the odd credit card, this great bag will go with anything in your wardrobe and not look out of place.

Watch List – also keep them peeled for clashing coloured clutches, they are going to be everywhere by Christmas, the slouchy rucksack will also make an appearance (lets hope its brief), and look out for the Pouch, sounds slightly medical, but think oversize portfolio with no structure.  Nestled under your arm this zipped up leather newcomer will also be hitting the high street.

Editors pick (thats me in this instance) is the vintage inspired bag trend.  I am in love with our new vintage bags for this very reason.

They say you can’t buy elegance. well, you can.  Meet the Olivia.

Once securely packed away, I unwrapped my trusted old brown bag which withstands all weathers, repels snow and loves a frosty morning.  I happily sauntered about for a couple of days feeling deliciously wintry.  I love winter.  I am a winter dresser, much preferring layers, boots, scarves and my gorgeous navy winter wool coat, rather than the skimpiness and flesh revealing heartache of summer.

But something felt odd.  I was having to ‘think’ about my bag, would it match the pumps I had slung on, would it look overly dark and looming with my stone turned up chino’s and breton, would it look out of place with my mac.  Then the unthinkable.  A heat wave.  A full on serious, mediterranean hot hot hot heat wave.  My bag looked so uncomfortable, so bulky, well, just so brown.

I was delirious.  I quite happily dragged the dust bag off the Lucia, gave her the once over, and swung her over my shoulder in extreme happiness.  I had my favourite back on board and we we’re rolling!  This bag feels right, she looks right and she functions right.  All the right pockets in all the right places, strap length is perfect, not too heavy not too light. Officially my favourite.

I soon realised that I wasn’t ready to give her up to the doom and gloom of the wardrobe just yet, and why not wear her through winter?  I’ve seen so many winter nudes at London fashion week, so many taupes, pale stone, blush and creams that I am, well quite frankly, feeling ahead of the high street.  I am fashion forward wearing this colour through winter, yes, I have decided, I am officially riding the wave of next season colour with aplomb!

Who says you have to use a dark handbag in winter?  Who? Who?  Not me, and neither should you.

There, i’m done.  Complete and utter vindication for wearing a camel Lucia through to next year………..

Do you even care?

Well, some people do care, and take great care in fact to make sure their shoes match their handbag every time they leave the house.  It’s not just a wedding thing either, seeing the mother of the bride in champagne shoes and a champagne clutch is so very acceptable, therefore should we not do the same outside of a formal setting?

I say no.  I say, fashion has had a definite shift away from ‘matchy matchy’, leaning more to the side of eclectic dressing and the ‘oh I’ve just thrown this together’ look.  I think some take this to the extreme though, and I often wince at the pictures from the style hunter sections in fashion magazines at the things people put together in the name of style.

I think making a statement with a handbag or a pair of shoes can be so very effective if not overdone.  For example, the Natalia leopard clutch looks amazing with blazer and jeans for a night out, or simply a pair of red heeled peep toes sneaking out from a skinny jeans and a T shirt for Friday cocktails is a fabulous way to show your style without having to wear a shining beacon.

I am happy wearing black shoes with a brown handbag, as long as I feel it works, I wear it.  Maybe that’s a confidence issue too. I was once told to never EVER wear black boots with jeans by a friend.  I debated it for months, thinking why on earth not?  Instead of just ignoring the statement I became bound by it.  I no longer feel this way, and a great pair of black biker boots looks fabulous with denim jeans.  Its the same with clashing colours, I love to wear a hot pink handbag with coral jeans, <I can feel some of you shudder> but to be honest, that’s OK.  I like it, but not everyone has to.

Maybe that’s the crux of it, if you like something, wear it.  Not everyone will like it, but then again, not everyone likes marmite……………

But I like it.  And I am not 40 yet.  It left me feeling a little odd, am I old fashioned, or has Mary created something that could well be attracting a wider audience.  The range includes some gorgeous silk blouses, tailored blazers and print dresses which are strong and unique in their design. They offer something different, something unique, which is something I think everyone strives for.

But then that is where I would argue some fashion cannot be ‘aimed’ at a certain age profile, as it depends on the individual. Same goes for handbags, yes you can have a certain type of bag which is aimed at a younger or older market, but then it all goes a little fuzzy in the middle in my opinion.  From the age of 30′s to 60′s I think truly anything goes.  Ladies from every age group buy our handbags.  I’ve heard a lady say a certain handbag is a ‘younger’ ladies handbag, and yet I sell many to all ages.

Therefore can something as simple as fashion break down some of those age barriers in todays modern world.  I believe ladies fashion has certainly become more blurred than my seniors’ generation, the boundaries between what a 50yr old wears and a 30yr old fading fast. Twiggy, Madonna, Joanna Lumley, Vivienne Westwood, Helen Mirren, Mary Portas et al are all women who buck the trend, not content to settle for what fashion has dictated in the past for them they are steering the way for a brighter future.  They are strong independent women with a unique sense of style, becoming fashion icons in their own right, without meaning to in some cases.

I am therefore heartened by Mary’s new line, I am going to have a rummage as soon as they are available at HOF online (as a online purchasing addict) and see what little beauties I come up with!

I am about to embark on a 2 week holiday to the British Riviera. (ummm sounds nice). I have the buckets & spades, I have the pac a macs, I have the indoor games, I have sun cream.  I am packing for every eventuality from torrential rain to glorious sunshine, from days sat on the beach eating ice creams and paddling in the surf, to sitting round a cramped kitchen table playing Uno listing to the weather hammer down on the roof.

So, which bag do I take? Can I take two? Husband says not, husband says ‘we are travelling light’. Not sure what he means by this, so ignore.  You see there may be occasions when we scoot off for a quick pie and chips in the local pub, times we sit on the beach all day, times when we walk around lighthouses.  I need a bag which not only looks casual with shorts and pac a mac, but also looks smart enough for the odd foray into nightlife.

How can this be done by simply the one bag. Impossible. Yet, I do yearn for that all encompassing bag, a bag which you can fit in nappies, games, change of clothes, sun cream, snacks, purse, lippy, wipes and a sat nav – yet – can look smart for dinner out.

I am thinking I may be wandering into double bagger territory?

My compromise, I think, is going to be a leather tote.  A tote is obviously a carry all bag, as the name implies, it carry’s all.  It’s smart enough that I can wear it to the pub & the lighthouse yet this leather bag won’t look silly on the beach.  I would love to take my shoulder bag, but I just cannot see me putting this down on the sand for the day.  I love my mini clutch but seriously, it cannot even hold a packet of baby wipes, and a huge all encompassing beach bag will just look silly as I haul it into the pub.

The tote it is then, this one in fact. Decision made, I feel good.

Now my next dilemma, shoes, oh dear this could take some time!