7inch Olympia Le Tan S/S 13 by Simon Cahn

“Ever since I did the book-clutch I have been hearing the question, “when are you doing a record cover clutch?”. I am a real music person so I didn’t want to do it till I had a proper story to go with it, and for that I needed the clothes (and a dozen dancers). 7″ is my little history of black music, from jazz and blues to the girls bands of Phil Spector’s wall of sound (my favourite genre). Those girls always used to wear matching outfits.

I love the aesthetic of those videos where you see one girl singing in the front and 3 clapping in the back, all wearing striped dresses or lots of pink. I miss those performances. So I had my father Pierre Le-Tan design 4 fabric prints (the Magic Box, the Secret Garden, a hand drawn tartan and a stripe motif composed of twirling ribbons) to create little girls bands of my own, one in shorts, one in a halter neck dress or one in a pencil skirt all in matching fabrics, silks, linens or an incredibly soft satin cotton and of course a lot of seersucker because a summer collection needs a lot of seersucker. The shapes are simple but flattering, a little girly but also ladylike because the smart women who carry my book-clutches should be able to dress in Olympia Le-Tan too. As well as the jazz themed book-clutches I presented three new bag styles: the “Little 45″, a square box-clutch with embroidered reproductions of jazz and blues record covers, a tiny handle, suede sides and Liberty print insides, the 7″ bag, a square leather bag with a brass handle where you can actually put your 7″ vinyls if you still have any (it also comes in real alligator), and the Macaron bag, a round clutch with brass sides, with embroidered reproductions of vinyl labels.

The presentation has always been a big part of the collection for me and this time even more so. The fake girls band concert with all the dance routines was compulsory for it all to fall into place. And I never actually thought I would be able to get the real Ronnie Spector to close the show, but I asked and she was up for it! It made me feel like a little girl at the best birthday party ever!”

– Olympia Le Tan

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter