Going global: Polish designer rocks fashion world with her must-have bags
A Warsaw designer is developing a “cult status” in the world of fashion and putting her country on the map with a range of bags that bring a stylish and must-have swish at affordable prices.
Such is the splash being made by Zofia Chylak and her Made in Poland brand, Because London, a fashion magazine and website, reported that her bags were now “practically gold dust with waiting lists multiplying by the millisecond”. Her products, the magazine also notes, now had a “cult-status bag brand”.
Simple black bags make up the core of Chylak’s collection.
Chylak’s bags have been featured in both the Polish edition of Vogue and on Vogue.com. In 2015, the company won the Polish Elle Style Award for “Brand of the Year”.
Established in Warsaw in 2014, the Chylak’s eponymous brand manufactures bags in a full range of shapes and sizes using Italian leather. Already, it has become a successful example of a fashion company that is not only based in Poland, but also manufactures there too, shunning factories in distant parts of the world for smaller-scale production in Europe.
“The concept,” said the designer in an interview for Vogue this month, “is to make an elegant, everyday bag that I feel is good quality, but is still affordable.”
Chylak’s work is informed by her experience as a designer and knowledge of fashion history. Studying the history of art, she researched the symbolism of fashion in the art of the northern Renaissance.
Before establishing her brand in Poland, she was an apprenticeship in New York, working in the design department of women’s wear and accessories brand Proenza Schouler, and in the studio of Nicolas Caito, who has been described as the city’s “most in-demand patternmaker”.
Amid the move towards personalisation in fashion, some of the brand’s accessories can be stamped with gold initials.
Simple black bags make up the core of Chylak’s collection. These range from deceptively small cross-body bags to larger bucket and shopper bags, and even a backpack. These can be complemented with a full set of accessories, including a wallet and a computer case. There are also iPhone cases in four different leather finishes.
“The concept,” said the designer in an interview for Vogue this month, “is to make an elegant, everyday bag that I feel is good quality, at the end so it is still affordable.”
Along with small bags Chylak has also designed big ones for shopping.
Bags are available in either crocodile- or python-embossed leather, which add texture to the monochromatic leather, while signature tassels on the closures add fun. In addition to this “capsule collection”, other collections provide a large choice of shapes, leathers and textures.
For city breaks or business travel, Chylak’s travel collection offers accessories ranging from tiny cardholders to a sturdy weekender bag in black cotton with leather details. Chylak has also catered for customers may want to avoid leather by designing bags in synthetic woven material, with a choice of classic black or multi-coloured strips.
Bags are available in either crocodile- or python-embossed leather, which add texture to the monochromatic leather, while signature tassels on the closures add fun.
Amid the move towards personalisation in fashion, some of the brand’s accessories can be stamped with gold initials.
In Warsaw, her bags are available at the CHYLAK X LE PETIT TROU store on Koszykowa Street, where they are displayed on sparse, minimalist shelving.
Chylak has also catered for customers may want to avoid leather by designing bags in synthetic woven material.
For international customers, they can now be bought online at luxury fashion retailer www.net-a-porter.com, which offers worldwide shipping.
