Le Tanneur x Mademoiselle Agnès

How do you express the groundbreaking style and creativity of Mademoiselle Agnès while reflecting Le Tanneur's traditional expertise? This is the challenge we set ourselves with the famous journalist and fashion icon. The result is a series of pieces that are both beautiful and practical enough to use every day, the perfect embodiment of the art of living 'à la française'.

The collection is based around...

An XL handbag - Le Grand Jean

A cross-body bag - Le Jean

A selection of accessories

... to slip inside... or hang outside, using the snap hooks, one of our favourite details.

Following our meeting, we took the opportunity to talk to her about the various aspects of this collaboration.

What was the creative process behind these pieces?

Mademoiselle Agnès -This bag follows in the footsteps of the Sans Couture purse. It wasn't long before we started talking about this purse, which won an award at the 1900 Paris World Fair. When I held it in my hands, I thought it would be a good starting point for this collaboration. I wanted a large bag with a no-frills seventies vibe that was both understated and functional. A minimal bag that does the maximum.

I imagined myself blowing into the coin purse as a glass blower would blow and creating a bag with all the purse's volume and just as supple.

One of the most exciting stages is being immersed in the design process and discussing the possibilities in terms of shapes and different skins with the studio.

What can you tell us about the three shades you've chosen?

I quickly settled on the coffee shade; it's a great alternative to black. More unexpectedly, I settled the on fleur de sel shade - I realised that I didn't have a white bag and that I absolutely had to have one! Finally, the colour of a reed, which bends but doesn't break, is a safe bet when it comes to the beige classics.

Shade variations

Coffee shade

fleur de sel shade

reed shade

These bags have two handles, one short and one long. What was your idea for the handles?

short handle

long handle

You have two choices of handle, short and long.

They give more possibilities:the bag can be carried short on the shoulder, under the arm, across the body or as a shoulder bag.

And can you tell us more about the formats you chose?

The large size is pretty much that of a 24-hour bag. It can be used for a short trip or, even better — and this is an absolute fantasy — to carry my cat, Jean, a British Shorthair. He's a real apartment cat and doesn't like to leave home at all. He doesn't get out much, so as a nod to him, we've engraved an image of him inside the bag with his four paws in the air.

And can you tell us more about the formats you chose?

Is this also why the bags come with small leather accessories?

I didn't want the bag to be visually overwhelming, but I did want the person carrying it to be able to personalise it with a range of useful accessories.

Is this also why the bags come with small leather accessories?

I didn't want the bag to be visually overwhelming, but I did want the person carrying it to be able to personalise it with a range of useful accessories.

So for this collaboration, in addition to the bag, we produced a holder for spectacles because I'm always looking for them, a pen holder, a post-it holder and a little photo holder. Naturally, the accessories are removable and can be attached to the rings on the jewellery handles, which have a shiny nickel finish.

01 Spectacles holder

02 Photo holder

03 Pen holder

04 Post-it holder

I'm very proud of this bag. It is a perfect addition to the Le Tanneur collection. We have respected the brand's traditional yet chic feel to the letter.