31 May 2012
JBEIL, Lebanon: Struggling to find a professional laptop case which was stylish, feminine and not obscenely overpriced led Alice Edde to create her own range of bags.
“I just wanted a nice, elegant, feminine laptop bag which was affordable,” says the chairwoman of Edde Sands Hotel and Wellness Resort. The market for business-friendly women’s bags was saturated with cheap synthetic grays, browns or blacks or extortionately priced totes.
But what started as a personal project for herself and her friends has now turned into something else. Realizing there was a wider demand for such items, Edde opened a boutique in the old souks in Jbeil, which today stocks a wide range of bags and totes for the professional woman, and man.
She began by sending a questionnaire to 30 businesswomen friends around the globe, asking them what they would look for in an ideal laptop bag.
Now her range includes sleeves for iPads and thinner laptops, which can fit into larger totes, and a whole host of other designs. “Most of my bags are practical, functional bags for the working woman, the elegant woman, the busy woman,” Edde says.
With a background in interpreting, Edde became heavily involved in the design process when she and her husband established the nearby beach resort, Edde Sands, in 2003, sourcing locally produced furniture and crafts for the complex.
“This has become a passion and I have always liked crafts, wherever I have traveled,” she says.
When she opened the M Boutique (previously called Miss E) in 2009, Edde brought that same philosophy with her, using only local designers and craftsmen.
“I only produce in Lebanon. I really want to work in Lebanon, with Lebanese; I want to encourage Lebanese production, trade and creativity,” she says. “It’s beautiful the work that is done in Lebanon, [there’s] no need to do it outside of the country.”
Although some skins, including the crocodile, snake and ostrich are imported, some leather is tanned in south Lebanon, using organic dye.
“It’s best, and important, to show the outside world, and the Lebanese, what they can produce ... these wonderful quality, styles and colors and finishings,” Edde adds.
Her customers are a mix of foreign tourists and Lebanese, though Edde believes outsiders have an even greater appreciation for the work of Lebanese craftsmen.
At a recent exhibition of her handbags in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, customers heaped praise on her designs. Edde was invited by a friend in the country who cited the dearth of work-appropriate, feminine bags for the new generation of professional Saudi women, and hopes to soon set up more trade links with the kingdom.
“The Lebanese are still more impressed by foreign work and yet there’s so much wonderful work done here,” Edde says.
The latest collection of bags, creations Edde works on with local designers, launched last week and is entitled, “You’ve Got Mail,” with each elegant two-tonal bag faintly resembling an envelope. With a gorgeous array of bright, summery colors, the soft leather bags range from around $100 to over $1,000 for a collection of “gem” handbags made from crocodile or snakeskin. There are also wallets for $55 and business card holders for $25.
There is also a new beach bag range in store, named “Deauville” after the classy coastal resort in northwest France. The bags, made from a range of straw, cotton and leather, remind of a 1950s French beach postcard, with red, white and blue stripes and wide straps.
For men, the “M” range includes travel bags, duffel bags, briefcases and messenger bags, in more muted tones, and, of course, wallets and computer sleeves. The boutique also sells jewelry and cufflinks from local designers such as Rania Farsoun and Nada Skaff.
As for the future, Edde is hoping to start also exporting her M Boutique – which bears the tagline “Lovely leathers of Lebanon” – bags to the U.S. and to open a Beirut branch in the fall.
But for American-born Edde, the local community will always come first. “It was how the whole development of Edde Sands and the development of the yard started ... we just wanted to show them more, to give people more of an option than what was given to them previously. I’ve been fortunate to travel a lot so I’ve seen what has been done in Italy, France and Spain, and the same can be done here, why not?”
In March, to coincide with International Women’s Day and Mother’s Day, proceeds from the M Boutique’s spring sale were donated to two local women’s charities, the Institute of Management and Services and the Young Women’s Christian Association, both of which help women find work in their own rural communities, and Edde intends to further such events in the future.
“That’s how you start, it’s not about giving mega dollars, but you do what you can.”
Copyright The Daily Star 2012.
