"I wanted to challenge the standard formula for
luxury," explained Kristine Johannes of Rauwolf - and boy, did she ever.
The German-born, New York-based designer cut her teeth at Calypso, J.Crew and
Devi Kroell before launching her own label in 2011.(Rauwolf is her mother's
maiden name.)
Modern, architectural and luxurious, Johannes's creations
turn the typical exotic skin and beaded minaudiere conventions
upside-down. Produced in an Italian factory that creates buckles and shoe heels
for luxury fashion houses, Rauwolf clutches are crafted entirely from polished
or matte Plexiglas, and molded in graphic shapes that glimmer and glint like
jewels in the hand.
For Fall 2013, Johannes spent untold hours working at her
Italian plastics lab to make the bags both lighter and more spacious (the
better to accommodate one's evening essentials). "Making the interiors
large enough to hold the new iPhone was our biggest challenge!" she
confided with a laugh. In other space-saving measures, Rauwolf embedded the
label into the frame, which also houses a hidden magnetic closure that snaps
shut with a very satisfying "thunk."
Other new-for-fall innovations include a fade-to-black
treatment on the Hex clutch and a mesmerizing black/ gothic brown /silver
starburst pattern on the Constantinople prism clutch. The brand new Brutalist
bag features a super-thin slice of briar wood pressed between two sheets of
dyed Plexiglas that's topped with contrasting Plexi "gems," while the
Orbit clutch is bisected with a thick band of gold foil and finished with
polished gold screws. Upping the chic ante even further: the formerly all-black
frames are now dyed to match, giving each bag a heightened sense of refinement.
Currently available at Barneys and online at RauwolfNYC.com, the
bags are specifically designed to "challenge the comfort zone."
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