Designer Interview – FashionBite chats to Belen Echandia founder Jackie Cawthra
London-based accessories designer Jackie Cawthra, founder of premium label Belen Echandia, talks to FashionBite about what goes into making the perfect handbag.
Read the interview…
FB. What’s your background, why did you launch the label?
“I am a lawyer from London with an obsession with good design. I was living in Spain, where I came across stores selling beautiful, soft leather, colourful accessories and handbags. This was before Balenciaga and Mulberry made brightly coloured bags and I thought such soft leather bags in pretty colours would work well in London as well. So I decided to design a collection of my own.”
FB. What goes into designing the perfect handbag/accessory?
“A lot of thought about the kinds of shapes women love, the particular trends of the moment and leather trends, followed by sketches, then re-sketches, then sampling one, two or three and sometimes even four times until we get it absolutely right.”
FB. Where do you get your inspiration from?
“Even though our bags tend to be monotone, I get inspiration from patterns, prints, shapes, drapes….but above all from real people. Genuinely stylish people. I love looking at street style blogs and fashion sites like The Coveteur.”
FB. Which designers do you admire/why?
“I love Pauric Sweeney’s bags, they are very original and well-made. I tend to admire fashion designers with a strong identity and design aesthetic, like Oscar Olima.”
FB. Describe some key pieces from the SS11 collection?
“The satchel and cross-body bags, like the Madrid Crossbody and the Paris Clutch are my favourite pieces at the moment. I am also obsessed with my London Tote and I almost never put down my Surprise Me. All are beautiful and well-thought through bags: chic but also practical. A satchel is such a classic piece and we’ve added lots of pockets and compartments to make it particularly useful. Mini cross-body bags are so hot at the moment because people are sick of carrying around the kitchen sink. “
FB. What’s your personal style?
“I like to dress quite casually in skinny jeans and a t-shirt or sweater or blazer. I love Converse sneakers but they are everywhere and look silly on me, so I’ve just bought a pair of taupe leather sneakers which are the same style but much more feminine. I love dressing up, but with my now one-year old baby boy I don’t get to do it as much as I’d like.”
FB. Describe a typical day?
“Get up, do some work, feed my son, go to the pool, come home and eat a healthy breakfast, start work again at around 9am. Work until 2pm and then spend the afternoon with my son. I start work again as soon as he’s gone to bed. ”
For more info on the label, see Belenechandia.com
FashionBite xx
Thank you Fashion Bite for this interview! It was super fun to talk with you. xx
Be very careful when dealing with this brand. Yes, they sell you the ‘handbag dream’ of wonderfully unique, quality, and crafted Italian bags, with great customer service. However, upon close inspection, these bags are nothing at all like the descriptions they portray. They are overhyped and overpriced, and not worth the credit they deserve. There have been so many quality issues, with leather variances and quality, poor stitching, hardware falling off, colour fading. They also change their policies without notice, in addition to disappointing customer service when problems do arise. The designer has contacted customers to warn against speaking out about their issues, resulting in them being ‘told off’ if they choose to.
This is not a company that I would ever do business with again.
Thanks for your email. I will put this to the founder Jackie amd post her response online.