Fashion
Catherine Rapetti Handbags
By Jenny Farley
If you haven’t heard of Catherine Rapetti give her a little more time and you will. When celebrities want to give their gorgeous gowns a little extra red carpet zing they may reach for a Rapetti handbag. Three of her bags have been featured on the hit t.v. show Gossip Girl. “It definitely is cool to see it. It’s almost as exciting when I see my friends carrying it or someone on the street. It’s nice to see anyone carrying them.” Rapetti admits that one larger than life celebrity sporting a Rapetti handbag would give her a giant thrill. “The person I’d love to see carrying it is Oprah.” Rapetti’s bags have been featured in O: The Oprah Magazine.
Armed with a graduate degree in fashion design and a mom who believed in her, Rapetti started her company just three years ago almost by accident after leaving behind a career on Wall Street. She designed her first handbag, the giraffe print Margaret tote, in an accessory design class. She wanted a bag big enough and stylish enough to accommodate a New York lifestyle, no car but plenty of things to carry. When she carried the bag to job interviews after graduation, the bag handed the job to her. Rapetti says, “I never said, ‘I’m going to design handbags when I graduate.’ People asked where can I buy the bag?” After a store in Connecticut placed an order for four and sold out Catherine Rapetti the fashion graduate became Catherine Rapetti the handbag designer. “It happened naturally,” she says. The Margaret tote remains one of Rapetti’s bestsellers. It costs $695.00 and also comes in a smaller version. “My favorite bag is the first one that I made. It’s been through everything with me.”
All of Rapetti’s handbags are named after friends and family who inspire her. “I started off with my very first bag named after my mom. She always carried big bags. When I do name a bag it matches the personality of the person. A lot of the evening bags I name after my friends who want to get dressed up and go out at night.”
Rapetti’s youth as an equestrian inspired as least two key design elements of her bags, the metal nameplate and the fine quality leather which she buys in New York. “I rode my whole life. I was a jumper. If you ride a lot you have a saddle and a bridle. I always loved the smell of leather, the feel of leather. For me in designing, leather is very important to me.” Her equestrian gear was labeled by a metal nameplate, just like her handbags. “We’ve had a lot of fun with those. It’s my little nod back to riding.”
Rapetti says for her fall collection she’s having fun playing with color like bright fuchsia. “I think after summer it’s a letdown when fall comes so we wanted to brighten it up a little bit. You see so many blacks and browns and grays. We decided to really kind of go bright this season.” Rapetti’s fall line focuses on clutches like the flat envelope Paige clutch. “You can use them during the day and at night. They’re great for traveling.” The bag comes in six colors.
Rapetti’s spring 2010 line will feature more accessories like the popular loveknots on sale now. “You’ll see a lot more leather bracelets and cuffs for spring.”
If you like buying American made products, note that all of Rapetti’s handbags are made in New York. Grateful for her success, Rapetti offers this advice to other female entrepreneurs who want to follow their dream and open their own business. “You need a great lawyer, a great accountant, you need a lot of people you can lean on and trust. You can have a great idea but you have to lay the foundation and you need a lot of help to do that.” Rapetti says meet as many people as you can, talk to everyone you know and surround yourself with strong people like her business partner and close friend Paige whom she credits with being a driving force behind the business. And that mom who was with her from the start? She still works with her daughter today. Rapetti says, “I’ve been very lucky.”
You can buy Catherine Rapetti handbags at catherinerapetti.com or shopbop.com