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So winter is upon us, with bright cold days and long dark nights. London's garden squares have been quietly competing for the best firework display and bonfire.
In handbag land, we have been busy organising Christmas events, the first of which will be at the new member's Club the Devonshire, on Monday 4th December.

Please let us know if you'd like an invitation. It's a chance to see this beautiful new London private club and hotel while sipping champagne and checking out our vintage Kelly collection and new Birkins.
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News from the Handbag World
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Burberry Closes Branches in the US and plans expansion across EMEA and India.
Burberry is closing down a number of stores which are not considered luxurious enough for the brand and the experience it is now offering customers; the majority in department stores in the United States. It then plans to re-energise the business and invest further in stores in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India. Shareholders took a dim view, with the price of shares dropping by 10%, amid fears that this re-energising (as they are calling it) of the brand would mean an increase in pricing. 
Here at Lilac Blue, sitting above the Burberry Regent Street flagship store, we have seen the attention the staff pay to customers massively improve. Going into the store here is a great experience. So while we hope Burberry will continue to be a vaguely affordable brand, we welcome the luxury experience in terms of quality and positioning however, there is still a lot of work to do on the finish of the products before the brand reaches the lofty heights of Louis Vuitton.
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Christie's is hosting handbag auctions in London and Paris over the next month. We viewed the lots earlier this week, and wanted to show you this amazing piece.
This is a Kathrine Baumann evening bag made of gold, green and red crystals. It's part of a limited edition run, number 25 out of 500 pieces, made in 1997. It's been gently used, they grade it as condition 2. It's 12cm long x 6cm deep x 12cm high. The guide price is £1,000 - £2,000. Let us know if you'd like us to bid on this or any other piece for you.
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The Making of an Hermes Scarf
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"A Hermes scarf is sold, somewhere in the world, every minute of every day". So says the wonderful urban myth. Until recently, the scarves were better known than Hermes handbags. So having for years studied the meticulous designs and methods of creating the handbags, we thought it high time we looked into how the scarves are created. We'd like to thank Rice and Beans Vintage for their superb research.
The first scarf was made in 1937, designed by Robert Dumas, a member of the Hermes family, and from then on the creations were produced completely in-house: Hermes bought the raw silk from China, spun it into yarn, wove it into fabric and screen-printed it.
Nowadays, each scarf is still individually screen-printed, and the Hermes designers are able to choose from tens of thousands of colours. So while we may think £300 is a substantial sum for a piece of silk, bear in mind that once the design is complete, artisans in the Hermes workshops just outside Lyon take over the manufacturing process, and that takes a further 18 months.
The carre de soie Hermes scarves are 90cm x 90cm square and made from the silk of the mulberry moth cocoons. Each edge is hand-rolled and hand-stitched and it is said that one seamstress will roll and stitch only about seven scarves per day. Two collections of silk scarves are released each year. There are now over 2,000 designs and they have been sported by leaders the world over. Princess Grace of Monaco used one as a sling for her broken arm in 1956. Emily Blunt's character set boxes and boxes of Hermes scarves flying into the air when she was hit by a taxi in The Devil Wears Prada. Queen Elizabeth is frequently photographed with a Hermes scarf covering her head (and a postage stamp featuring her wearing one of the famous scarves came out in the 1980's).
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We are excited to have an array of Hermes Jumping boots available to buy at an unusually great price. We have black crocodile, and several colours in calf leather. They are hand stitched and feature the Kelly metal strap design. Please email us at contact@lilacblue.com for size and colour availability.
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Next month:
The trend of the small handbag
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