Fashion, Fashion, Fashion!!!!!!

Fashion is all I see, all I feel when I am in New York. Just a couple of weeks ago I basically became fashion. While walking the streets with a couple of friends, I saw a young lady carrying an amazing structured bag. I said to my best friend, “That bag is hot!”

She told me to go over and ask where the bag was purchased. I walked up to the girl holding the bag and asked where it was bought. She told me that her friend makes the handmade bags in Poland, and she was walking the streets of New York to help showcase and promote the bag.

She than gushed about my outfit and asked me to take a picture with the bag for their lookbook. Long story short, we exchanged numbers and I got in touch with the designer herself.

Ewa Zamulinska is her name, and the quote she lives by is, “Make each day your masterpiece.” That is something she effortlessly does in each intricate design in her bags. Ewa states that her culture and where she grew up plays a huge role in the designs of her bags.

She grew up in the historic city of Kraków, Poland. She describes it as a cultural place, where you meet different artists whose individual work always seemed to have an individual purpose. Living in that enviornment helped her to believe that in such a mass world her craft can also have its own place and appeal to the masses.

She also describes her city as somewhere she could touch and feel how history and modern day meets. That within itself has had a huge impact on her artistic stability.

While reflecting on her past, Ewa talked about designing bags at the age of 13. She began experimenting with different types of textiles. She got the influence from her aunts, who she would watch sew leather bags. From there, her aunts would give her tiny pieces of colorful materials and genuine leather to make her crafts.

In time her passion grew even more, and the beginning stages of her line, Bags for Friends, began to form. The inspiration for this name came from her private life. She describes the birth of the name idea as something that just grew inside of her, and after making bags and gifting them to friends, the name just seemed like the perfect fit.

Ewa states that all of those experiences led her to pursue fashion construction, which also led her into cutting old clothes and redesigning them into something new. Now Ewa uses the inspiration of her work, relationships, history, architecture, and even her dog to design daily. Her favorite part of her day is dog walking because the popping colors and structures she sees during her walks play a huge role in her design.

As far as her plans for the future, Ewa wants to expand past the hand-sewn and painted handbags, small bags and backpacks. After putting so much into her work, she knows that there is much more she can do, and very soon her company will be introducing newer products.

Those interested in Ewa’s designs can check out her website, www.bagsforfriends.com.

Julia Toles welcomes reader responses to jtoles@spokesman-recorder.com.