British couturier Hardy Amies, whose Savile Row shop opened back in 1946, is launching its first line of women's handbags this month. The new line comprises four key styles "inspired by traditional English luggage and the secret lives of female spies in the second world war," British Vogue reports. The theme is fitting since the dashing Sir Hardy himself, who died in 2003, was something of a real-life James Bond, serving as an officer in the British secret service during World War II. The bags, which start at about $1,600, each come with their own code name (and, we suspect, several hidden compartments).
Amies had an illustrious career as a couturier, designing clothes for everyone from Stanley Kubrick to the Queen of England. A self-described snob, he was a world authority on men's fashion, and his house carries on in high style. Among his many stylish epigrams, he once declared that "Luxury lies not in riches, but in the absence of vulgarity." Though he didn't live to see them, we think he probably would have approved of these bags bearing his name.
Gallery: Sir Hardy Amies
