Surprisingly, this season's most original summer bags come from the most unexpected brand: Azza Fahmy. Now, we know jewelry design to be her forte, and that collections have been getting more original and alluring with each season. But bags? It was a new twist on the whole fashion affair. It shouldn't come as a surprise though that Azza Fahmy is branching out into the world of clutches and purses, in line with other international jewelry brands debuting handbag collections. Bags produced by European jewelry brands are vying to capture the attention of a discerning clientele who are looking for something of quality. Seemingly, so too is Azza Fahmy who has partnered with Rania Teymour to create handbags for both day and night that stand out amongst the crowd, identifying themselves with the slightest of whispered hints. Tiffany and Bulgari are racking in sales with their lines of understated bags in the most sumptuous leathers. Only those in the know recognize the bag's origins as logos are tucked away inside. The assumption is that a brand that can design beautiful jewelry can also design other beautiful accessories. The logic is right. Earlier this year, Teymour created a collection of limited pieces that included a variety of shapes, selling out faster than you could say, “I'll take this one.” Using exotic eel, crocodile leather in addition to an interesting leather of fish scales, the pieces treaded a fine line between what is considered to be classic and what one could consider within current trends. These bags could last a lifetime. A toned down purple shade in addition to beige, brown, black and — best of all — mint green were paired off with long silver Azza Fahmy chains, brooches or bracelets. Funny how the apparent recycling of some designs from previous collections looked so novel on the leather creations. The bags either came shaped as a standard soft pouch, a rigidly structured long rectangular box or as a flat floppy envelope pouch. The stitching on the bags and workmanship appears to be flawless. For summer, Teymour and Fahmy worked bright jewel-toned shades of green, oranges and blue along with brown and nude in the same styles previously sold. With pearl tassels and brooches made of silver and gold, the details work well with the bright shades. The bags retail at between LE 1,800 to LE 4,800 according to leather type and jewelry detail. Best of all, in true Azza Fahmy fashion, a quote from Om Kolthoum's song “Al-Atlal,” originally a poem by Egyptian Ibrahim Nagi, is inscribed on some of the jewelry detailing of the bags. “Of beauty overpowering” sings Om Kolthoum, wishfully for a lover. We couldn't agree more about beauty in bag form. The collection will be in Azza Fahmy stores including the North Coast branch starting July 5 while supplies last. www.azzafahmy.com
