Style File: With 40th Birthday Celebrations And A New Book, Mulberry Hits Middle Age In Style

Style File With 40th Birthday Celebrations And A New Book, Mulberry Hits Middle Age In Style 6 May 2011, 4:44 pm Forty isn’t exactly a grand old age for a British heritage brand like Mulberry (by comparison, Burberry is 155), but in the words of creative director Emma Hill, “We have a lot to say!” Kicking off the 40th birthday celebrations is Mulberry ($90, available at Mulberry boutiques), a 480-page coffee-table book three years in the making. The tome features fly-on-the-wall photography by regular brand collaborator Venetia Dearden, shot everywhere from a campaign shoot with Tim Walker to an after-party with Alexa Chung. Looks inside the Somerset, England, factory jostle next to images of brand execs trying to fit a giant helium balloon in the shape of a Bayswater bag into a London cab. “We’re warts and all,” Hill explains, “and we don’t take ourselves too seriously. It’s nice that we could have pictures of our front-row celebrities but also silly ones of us having snowball fights.” The birthday celebrations will continue through the year, and the infamous helium Bayswater will make appearances at parties in London and New York, where a new Spring Street store is set to open. Hill hints that the new space will feature a special new piece exclusive to New York. A packed schedule like hers requires the occasional break, like Hill’s recent trip to Cornwall for the Royal Wedding weekend. “We had a lawn party with lots of Union Jack bunting and cucumber sandwiches and scones and Victoria sponge cake and flag waving,” she said. As for the new Duchess, “She looked amazing, I thought she handled herself incredibly and was so poised.” First the Alexa; next, perhaps, the Catherine? —Kiki Georgiou Photo: Courtesy of Mulberry You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed.