In 2014, CuteCircuit presented the Mirror Handbag at New York Fashion Week. Its illuminated surface could display messages and animations controlled through an app. We later developed a leather version at an Italian leather goods atelier that also made Chanel Boy Bags. That is where Chanel saw our handbag.
Karl Lagerfeld told us that, after seeing so much in fashion, our bag had surprised him. Chanel invited CuteCircuit to bring that idea into its Spring/Summer 2017 collection.
From our handbag to the Chanel runway
For the Data Centre show in Paris in October 2016, we developed illuminated versions of the Boy Small and Boy Medium bags, as well as a laptop-sized Envelope clutch. We designed the electronic systems, custom light matrices and the animations that brought each bag to life.
CuteCircuit co-founder Ryan Genz designed the animations around the colours of the collection’s tweeds and digital prints. Karl loved Ryan’s choices and told him he had a wonderful eye for colour. The moving light became part of the collection’s visual language, illuminating the bags in pinks, greens and other vivid hues.
Chanel had a six-month exclusive on the designs. When the bags went on sale, they sold out in less than two weeks.
A piece of fashion history
The Chanel LED Boy Bags still surface as rare collector pieces. Sotheby’s has listed a 2017 LED Boy Bag for sale.
The photographs below show the leather CuteCircuit handbag that Chanel saw at the atelier alongside one of the illuminated Boy Bags from our collaboration. The Chanel name is unmistakable on the finished pieces. Their light, electronics and animations tell another part of the story: they were created by CuteCircuit.
Explore the Chanel × CuteCircuit collection in our fashion archive.
