alia michèle blog

I have been asked many times when and why I decided to make bags. Well, it all started when I realized I bought just a few too many bags each year, while I was in college. It was pretty bad....I just had to have more and more. Then I said one day...I should just make bags! And you know me...I say things and sometimes I just don't know where to start, so sometimes things never happen. Kind of like this blog...I always wanted one but didn't know where to start...then Al set it up for me for my birthday! But this time, my friend Sulei bought a book about how to make handbags for me, just because I kept saying I want to make bags and I never got up and did it! What lovely friends I have.

These bags were my final project for screen-printing. I went overboard and made 10, one for each of my best friends, and dearest family (my mom and sister). I guess making 10 bags with horrible sewing skills means I loved it that much huh? Anyway, I really liked the newspaper prints by Dolce and Gabbana at the time, so I kinda used that idea. My print was the first page of the daily newspaper in Jamaica, printed the day I was born...01.29.81. Then I recreated the Jamaica tourism logo, and added one of my drawings of a lily which represented my Grandma who passed away a year before I graduated (she called me Lily). Then each person chose their favorite color, and voila!!! And how could I forget the buttons! This is exactly when my obsession with buttons started. There was a store in Savannah that sold vintage buttons, and I went crazy for them. These were some I bought and used just for this project!

* Many people have asked if I will make these again, but I don't think I will. Each one of my bags have a story behind it, but doing this project was very emotional for me,which is why I think I'll let them be. But, I can still show them off...right?? hehe.