Woodstock in Cape Town isn’t really the right setting for a western, even a spaghetti western. But it’s the perfect place for an urban cowgirl, a studio that smells like leather and glue, and a fistful of the best handbags ever made.
Chloe Townsend, dark jeans tucked into scuffed boots and a work table dotted with patterned leather, rivets, and a serious-looking hammer, started her sought-after handbag label Missibaba five years ago and although it “just doesn’t make any money” (a common concern among local fashion designers), her distinctive designs have become something of collectors’ items among local fashion lovers.
The latest Missibaba range, called “Cowboy’s Little Girl“, draws upon imagery of cowboys, Indians and prairie girls, with western-inspired styles (such as “Saddle” and “Buckaroo”), antique brass detailing and colours inspired by landscapes and sunsets: mustang, big sky blue and rising sun red.
All of the bags and accessories are made from leather that has been sourced and printed locally. Even the custom-printed hemp linen linings and cast fittings are made in South Africa.
Good quality comes at a price: Missibaba bags start retailing at about R2 600 and go upwards of R4 000, but these are investment pieces, handbags that acquire a patina of love and life when worn over time.
“When we printed the patterns on to the leather,” Townsend says, “the ink took differently in different patches. It came out looking distressed and old already. Which I loved. I didn’t know this was what it was going to do. I quite like the element of surprise.”
One of the leather prints in the range, a delicate floral stamp, was stolen from a motif found in an old photo album of Townsend’s late grandmother. Townsend called it “Pamela’s Blossom” in her honour.
“Ideas come to me — this might sound a bit weird — but they come in that wake-sleep state,” Townsend says. “I’m simply the conduit. I come into the studio with an idea, start playing around with patterns.
Then we cut up a piece of card — that’s the initial pattern. Card is easy to cut and fold.
What we should do next is make up a sample out of some cheaper material, but I usually just launch straight into the leather, I find the most juicy colour I can work with. I’m an instant-gratification person.
I’m also obsessed with colour. I tend to choose leather for the colour first, more than the texture.
Natural fibre really absorbs colour; for example, suede draws in colour so that it doesn’t reflect at all.
I love patent leather too. But it’s more about the contrast. Shiny versus matt. I love putting the textures together, so that one shines through the other.”
For more information call the Missibaba workshop on 021 461 1083; visit www.missibaba.com