Custom Bags: Design Your Own Carryall

Last week we posted about our favourite bags for the new season – they might blow the budget but Fendi, McQueen, Givenchy and Maison Martin Margiela have offered up a riot of colour and texture for A/W13. And for those of us who aren’t in a position to invest in designer labels, we can still experiment with luxe styles online. Whether we’re putting them in Polyvore sets, adding them to Pinterest boards or saving them in our online shopping baskets, even the most out-of-reach bags are within digital touching distance.

But now Farfetch have brought luxury handbags even closer, with a cool new tool on their website that lets you design your own. Choose whether you’d like a satchel, backpack, clutch, or shoulder bag, and then play with different colours, textures and accessories to create a bespoke tote. You can even share your designs on facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to see what other people think of them! I’ve spent all morning playing on this and coming up with the bags that I wish really existed.

And if you’d like to take the whole idea a step further, there are a ton of sites out there that offer to make up your dream bag. All you need to do is choose the style, colour and details – but unfortunately the designs tend to be pretty basic and don’t usually reflect current trends.

One that bucks the trend is Laudi Vidni, with their clean, customisable shapes that wouldn’t look out of place at fashion week or slung over the shoulder of an It bag devotee. A minimalist website streamlines the whole process for would-be bag designers: just choose a basic silhouette (the Tempo Envelope is my favourite) and play with Laudi Vidni’s fabrics until you find the perfect combination.

Their choice of colours and textures goes far beyond what you would expect from online handbag design. Rather than concentrating on leather in a handful of colours, Laudi Vidni offers up exotic finishes like Vibrant Croc Blue and Fuchsia Printed Snake, alongside soft metallics, supple grains and studded textures. After settling on the exterior details, you can even choose which cotton lining you prefer and whether you’d like gold or silver hardware.

It looks like Laudi Vidni only ship to the US right now, otherwise I’d be seriously tempted to order my own one-of-a-kind bag from them. In the meantime I’ve been thinking over these crossbody and wristlet designs, let me know what you think!