Samsonite has tapped Christina Ricci as the face of its new Fashionaire line under the Samsonite Black Label brand.
The collection was designed in collaboration with Cameron Silver, owner of Los Angeles-based vintage retailer Decades, who acts as a consultant, and Samsonite creative director Quentin Mackay. Fashionaire is an update of a travel and luggage line that Samsonite released in 1968. Ricci, along with Silver and Mackay, will host a launch event tonight at New York’s Gramercy Park Hotel. Ricci appears in the line’s look book and global public relations campaign in photos shot by KT Auleta.
A black-and-white floral print coats the 13-piece collection of suitcases, handbags and small leather goods that also includes a hat, an umbrella and a raincoat. Retro styles like a top-handle beauty case and a suitcase without wheels round out the line. The idea is to have a vintage look coupled with modern technology, such as lightweight and durable materials and wheel technology, said Mackay.
Retail prices range from $125 to $565.
“I’m the intellectual part of the collection, Christina is the glamour,” said Silver, who counts Ricci as a client at Decades. “This is the great irony about all of the luxury houses, whether it be Louis Vuitton or Hermès. They all do very anachronistic luggage. Samsonite was built on the idea of form and function and I thought to add an original spin.”
Silver, who is also the creative consultant for Azzaro and for New Zealand-based firm Untouched World, said he took on the project because he is travel obsessed.
“It’s a natural for me because I’m a huge luggage collector,” he said.
Silver has signed on to consult for Samsonite in other archival projects. In the past, the company has partnered with collaborators like designers Marc Newson and Alexander McQueen on collections that have garnered media attention — such as with McQueen’s rib cage-molded travel bag.
“Fashionaire, originally released in 1968, is perfectly significant of the vibrant, eclectic fashion scene of then and now,” said Mackay. “[It] was an era when jet travel was new, very exciting and an occasion for celebration and personal flamboyance. Today we see elements of this creeping back, with airlines introducing all business class aircraft and design being a strong point of lounge, aircraft and hotel design. So Fashionaire is complementary to this and gives travelers a mobile vessel to express their interest.”