Student bags a spot on designer label

CHARLIE McCREEVY used one to carry his budgets into the Dáil, Mary Robinson carried one on her shoulder on her first visit to Leinster House as president, and the Anglo-Irish Agreement was signed in a specially commissioned green one.

The Chesneau bag, briefcase and leather-case label has a lot more history than your typical designer gear. But now it is expanding its collection to appeal to a younger, trendier fashionable crowd.

The so-called “handbag architect” Edmond Chesneau was born in Paris but has lived and based his work here for the past 30 years. His designs cost between €200 and €400.

Yesterday, he announced the winner of a competition he held among fashion students who he believes can help him carry his label forward to a new generation.

The winner, Niamh Langton, 21, from Dublin, reinterpreted the old Chesneau shapes and styles, and with some vintage inspiration designed a collection of 12 different bags.

The student of the National College of Art and Design said shoes from the 1940s were her inspiration.

“The ideas were taken from little girls’ T-bar shoes and men’s brogue shoes and I translated those designs on to bags. So I use the leather-punching detail from the men’s shoes and then used prettier details in the pockets, with bows and metal clips,” she said.

Her designs will go into manufacturing and be part of the future collection for Chesneau.

“It’s really good to have things like this on my CV, so I’m really happy,” she said after being presented with her €1,000 cheque for winning the competition.

She said the prize will offer a career boost ahead of her trip to Paris in the New Year, where she will do a work placement in the studios of John Galliano.

“It’s an accessories placement and that is what I want. I made some mock-ups and sent those away and he chose me and one other girl for a placement,” she said.

Mr Chesneau said he was “overwhelmed with the standard of entries received” and he looks forward to working with the young designer.