Coach Inspiration...Bonnie Cashin: 1915-2000
Coach has been a highly sought after accessories brand for 71 years, appealing to a wide international audience despite its specific and patriotic American branding. Its simple classic and functional aesthetic coupled with its uncompromising material quality has stood the test of time. In return, the Coach brand has been rewarded with loyalty from its customers and a growing demand for its exclusive and luxury quality accessories.
A significant contributor to the Coach branding and design during its early inception was American fashion designer Bonnie Cashin, who designed for Coach during the 1960s and early 70s.
During the 1940s, Cashin worked in Hollywood at 20th Century Fox designing for films such as Laura (1944), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), and Anna and the King of Siam (1946) but by 1949 moved back to New York where she originally studied design and worked in Broadway. It was in New York where she developed her own style, and opened up her own studio 'Bonnie Cashin Designs' in the 1950s, where she went against the grain of the Seventh Avenue 'mindset' and designed with functionality and comfort in mind, suited to the emerging independent woman, whilst still maintaining a feminine aesthetic.
Her own unique design ethic led her to design more sportswear and leisure wear lines, her notable contributions included canvas raincoats, jumpsuits and her popularization of the poncho and the loose turtleneck. Her sense of practicality and functionality attracted Coach, the brand providing Cashin her own line of inspired bags and accessories appropriately titled 'Cashin Carry', featuring bright colours, zip compartments, and attached chain purses.
Check out some of the original advertising and sketches of the time:
A few years ago, Coach revived Bonnie Cashin's 'Cashin Carry' line with some of the designer's sketches emblazoned on the bags. A flattering tribute to a woman who truly knew about style.
For more Coach bags, visit Miss Polly's website www.pollyannaproductmall.com.
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