French journalist and TV personality Mademoiselle Agnès, a renowned chronicler of the fashion scene and its secrets, often crosses the border into the product world. In the past, she has amused herself by refreshing the looks of ready-to-wear brands Damart and Tati. This year, Mademoiselle Agnès has worked on a sophisticated collaboration with long-established French leather goods brand Le Tanneur.

It all started with a small seamless purse, the Sans Couture. Le Tanneur’s new handbag line, featuring the Jean medium-sized model and the Grand Jean in XL format, is a fresh take on the Sans Couture’s sleek, functional design, made with soft leather and available in sizes that will allow busy women to slip their laptops into these bags, priced respectively at €550 and €700. “I began with [Le Tanneur’s] iconic seamless purse as a basis. We needed to develop the right technique, almost like that of a glass-blower, to increase its size and transform it into a relatively large handbag, and even an extra-large one. We redesigned the wave-shaped flap, added silver and golden nickel buckles for the handles, which I wanted both short and long for ease of carrying, to eventually give it a look that would appeal to everyone,” said Mademoiselle Agnès.

Discreetly hidden behind the handbag’s flap, the Jean le chat branding in silver, a nod to Mademoiselle Agnès’s British Shorthair cat called Jean. The handbags can be worn in a variety of ways thanks to the double handles, shoulder strap and cross-body strap. The colours available are bright neutral shades like coffee brown, reed green, and ivory. The collaboration also includes a series of leather accessories that can be affixed to the bags like charms: a glasses case, a post-it holder, a pen holder and a photo holder.

Asked about what sparked her interest for working with Le Tanneur, a brand founded in 1898, beyond its French identity, Mademoiselle Agnès mentioned a Proustian ‘madeleine’ moment: “As a child, I used to have a Tann’s satchel [by Le Tanneur], and I thought about the ad that said ‘t’as ton Tann’s!’ (you and your Tann’s), meaning you were cool. Le Tanneur is a brand with something a bit transgenerational about it. I was immediately drawn to the idea of designing [a Le Tanneur bag]. Seeing it worn in the street would feel like seeing someone wearing their heart on their sleeve, as [French rock singer] Bashung said.”

What were the key criteria in this collaboration? “Respecting the brand’s heritage while developing a shape that was new for Le Tanneur, and establishing an excellent connection with the team of enthusiastic, receptive and committed young women working in a beautiful Parisian space at La Madeleine, where we shot the campaign,” said Mademoiselle Agnès. She envisages further drops in this collaboration, saying that “I can already imagine three new shades like a deep green, a cherry red and a very bright pink.”

The collaboration is part of a transformation phase for Le Tanneur. As Managing Director Nicolas Gibert told FashionNetwork.com, the brand is intensifying its digital communication, expanding its export activity and, at the end of last year, it opened a flagship store with a customisation atelier in Paris, at 16 boulevard des Capucines. The collaboration with Mademoiselle Agnès seems to be part of these efforts aimed at boosting the appeal of the brand, which generated revenue of €27 million in 2023.