Hunting Season: Deceptively Simple

Guest Blog by Liza Powel O’Brien

Once I was shown the inside of a seemingly nondescript single-story brick house in my neighborhood. Inside, I found a double-height living room in the middle of which was suspended a smoothly modern staircase, and giant picture windows that framed the park lying below. Not another house in this very traditional suburban enclave was visible. I had seen that park every day of my life but never had it looked as it did from this view: velvety; exotic; private. The house had transformed its very environment, which is probably some stated aim of architecture or, indeed, of any kind of design.  Last night, I had a similar experience in a sleek modern apartment building tucked between Chinese launderers on New York’s lowest side, at a trunk show for the fledgling handbag brand Hunting Season. (Jump for more!)

The room flickered with candlelight and crackled with the excitement of discounted exotics. Partners and Hunting Season designers Danielle

Corona (formerly with Valentino accessories) and Jason Salstein (consultant for VBH) chatted with the clientele–pretty boys, towering girls, a mafia of stylists, a starlet’s younger sister. Many of the bags spent most of the night in the bathroom, site of the best mirror in the whole place. But enough ambiance–we have matters of substance

to discuss.

There are a handful of bags from this design team but most noteworthy are, for day, something so fantastic I’m literally not allowed to mention it here (check upcoming Elle magazines for the scoop). And for evening (though why limit yourself to just a few hours of the day), there is what Hunting Season simply calls the Envelope. In, among other things, shiny black Alligator for $6,250 (“Barney’s can’t KEEP them in stock,” a stylist whispered to me); a multi-colored Rainbow Python ($1,790); an iridescent Sapphire Python; the fascinating ring lizard ($2,995); and yet another Python skin that is matte and black that has almost the finish of sueded rubber and is, according to another stylist, in keeping with the latest Malibu-centered rap-star craze of stripping the high shine off fancy cars.

The skins were gorgeous, but what truly sold me was the shape and size: They fit perfectly into the crook of your arm without necessitating a vise-grip by the elbow; they are large enough

to fit more than the essentials but not so big that you feel you’re holding a file folder; the lines are clean but textured, not stark. Slip one of these envelopes under your arm, and what appears to be a simple rectangle suddenly transforms its wearer into someone

instantly, eternally chic, no matter what her environment. To order, call Laura at Barney’s, 212-833-2086 or visit Hunting-Season.com.