What We're Obsessing Over: Roberta di Camerino

Three Roberta di Camerino bags came into the shop this month, and I keep picking them up. On one, the belts and buckles are built into the velvet instead of attached to it. That is whimsy backed by serious Venetian craft, and it is what I'm obsessing over right now.

Roberta di Camerino is a Venetian fashion house, founded after the Second World War by Giuliana Coen. It is known for velvet handbags with trompe l'oeil buckles and straps, a French term for "deceive the eye."

Why these bags

Two things pulled me in at once. First, the bags pretend to be something else: on the belted handbag, the belts and buckles are built into the velvet itself, with the pile removed to shape them, not attached. Second, the house backed that wit and character with serious craft.

Character is easy to fake. Gondola makers built the wooden structures of her bags, and the clasps came from craftspeople who make brass ornaments for gondolas. The house worked in soprarizzo, a silk velvet woven by hand on antique looms, with two levels of pile, one cut and one curled. Before Giuliana Coen used it for handbags, it was mostly made for furnishings and church vestments. That is what makes the original idea hold up over time.

Giuliana Coen (1920 to 2010) built the house in Venice, the only major Italian fashion house based in the city, and won the Neiman Marcus award in 1956.

The three in the shop right now

• C. 60s-70s trompe l'oeil velvet belted handbag: belts and buckles built into the velvet
• 1960s crushed velvet frame bag with logo charms
• 1970s canvas and leather frame bag with an embossed zodiac sun

Why whimsy drives my curation and design

Whimsy is a big influence on what I curate, and it directly inspires my upcycling ideas for IAMWHATIAM. I am drawn to pieces that are unique and unconventional, and I always look for the craftsmanship behind them. When both are present, there is genuine joy in knowing that the maker's vision and creativity called to me for the same reasons that may have inspired the original creator. A Roberta di Camerino bag is precisely that.

The upcycled blazers I have loved follow the same instinct, like the "Thanks It's Vintage" blazer from Retro Rebellious. A blazer starts as the most conventional piece in a closet. Rethinking it is the same design move as building a buckle into velvet. The statement on the back was cheeky, and the charms and embellishments on the front gave the garment a clear, confident point of view.

That instinct is behind IAMWHATIAM, our label of reworked garments. Whimsy gives me permission to break from convention when I design.

Take the Whachter Mandil coat: it is what I call a gender-bending piece. The original base was a military gabardine coat labeled with the name of the man who first owned it. The mandil (apron) I appliquéd to the front was a delicate 1950s piece with lace trim and embroidered flowers. It is the merging of masculine and feminine roles into a single garment. The vision didn't start from a rigid concept. I loved each piece individually. But together, they created a dialogue: softening the masculinity of the military coat with a housewife apron while toughening the delicate energy of the apron with a masculine edge.

How to wear one

• Keep the rest quiet: choose one expressive piece to obsess over and keep the surrounding outfit minimal.
• Start small: swap in a bag, a reworked jacket, or a statement pin.
• Focus on feeling: pick a piece because it makes you smile, not because it perfectly matches.

Shop the thread: the Roberta di Camerino bags and IAMWHATIAM.