The luxury brown “paper” bag collection by Marie Turnor

This is one of those moments when one looks at a collection and realises that sometimes, if you smack on a high price tag, you can get away with nearly anything. Beth Goodman, designer at Marie Turnor Accessories, has sought her inspiration from everyday things. “A paper bag, an envelope, folded paper, the colours of nature”. A fair enough starting point, but her series of paper bag style luxury handbags are almost a little too close to the truth.

Aside from the fabulous names such as The Feast, The Picnic and The Snak, these luxury leather clutches have an odd sort of appeal to them. The tan pieces really do just look like paper bags as the leather has retained a crumpled effect, but once you get past the lack of creativity in putting said inspiration to creative use, you see the fun uniqueness of these clutch bags. Looking at some of the other colours, the design grows on you. It’s simple, convenient and playfully nostalgic of a world prior to plastic bags.

The names are based on the dimensions of each clutch bag, the smallest being the Snak at approx. 5x3x1.25 inches costing just over £70, to the largest which is the Feast, 12x13x5.5 inches and costing nearly £200. To be honest, you could go down the hipster route of following a trend by avoiding it and bulk buy some real paper bags for mere pennies, which would have a similar effect. But we have a bit of fondness for these pieces. They are a little bit of silly sophistication, a fabulous example of just how much designers can get away with if they’re intelligent with their design, generous with their materials and brazen with their price tags.

Elizabeth Finney

To find out more about this bizarre collection or even to purchase a clutch, visit the Marie Turnor website.