Coming soon, Up To You Anthology is a handbag brand with an ethos based on design.
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By Handbag Design
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In The Couture League
I met Sohee Park in 2022 during her presentation supported by Dolce&Gabbana. The London based designer impressed with a collection that was both stunning and assured. Now in 2025, the Korean born creative head is presented collections in Paris for Couture Week. GOOD JOB!
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Giants Can Fall
Once upon a time Kodak was one the largest companies in the world. Digital cameras hit the market. General Motors controlled 60% of the US auto market. The Corolla came along. Nokia sat on almost 40% of global mobile phone sales. iPhone was released. AOL had 30 million users in 2000, by far the largest in the world. Customers switched to broadband. MySpace was the social media site. Suddenly young people moved to Facebook. These giants fell, some faster than others. They were unable to adapt to changing times. As the shockwaves continue to pulsate throughout the global tech sector. Could this David slay the giants? That is the question.
Brazen
DeepSeek, the Chinese start-up founded in 2023 scaled the walls of success to become a conversation. AI was supposed to be the terrain of the giants, not anymore. A brazen newcomer crashed the scene. Even President Trump weighed in saying “It’s a wake-up call.” A new competitor arrived, one that cannot be bought or suppressed.
Not only did DeepSeek beat the US giants, the young Hangzhou young upstart did it cheaper and faster than expected. While Silicon Valley sat back raking in investment for the AI, High-Flyer, DeepSeek’s parent company, outflanked the Goliaths. In one day, tech stocks dropped $1 trillion in value. Maybe Wall Street knew had a premonition of what is coming. In the past it took years for companies to fall from the top. For the hyper connected age where change comes fast, within twenty months a once household brand could be regulated to the graveyard, then forgotten. Technology is an unforgiving field that moves forward, stomping over stumblers.
For the first time, The United States tech platforms must change to a catch up plan in a field they dominate. A nightmare could become a reality, a decline to irrelevancy. So significant is the threat, Fortune Magazine reported Meta head Mark Zuckerberg has convened a war room to counter DeepSeek’s new Chatbot.
The well-known expression from the Chinese philosophy Taoism: What goes up, must come down. These words are resonating in Silicon Valley.
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Couture Week Looks 2
Paris Fashion Week Couture continues.
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Couture 25
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A Feast at Every Turn
The Duomo of Siena in Siena Italy is a remarkable piece of 13th century religious architecture. The level of stunning details is a feast for the eyes at every turn.
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Fashion Views from Pitti Uomo
A quick conversation on fashion from Florence at Pitti Uomo with Ilario Esposito and Taiwo Meghoma.
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Japan in the Style House
At Pitti Uomo, the words new technique are applied to the Japanese textile houses and brands. The final feel of the pieces shown in Florence is a bolt of blue. The JQ exhibit in the center building is always fascinating because of the way the fabrics feel: light and fine. The same question: How? The way the producers handle cashmere and silk should motivate designers to study the material process in Japan. Why these shirts and suits are not sold in major stores in the West is a mystery.
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Brett Johnson’s New Look
From Milan Fashion Week Men, luxury fashion brand Brett Johnson showed off a new collection with a new slant on details using lavish materials.
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A Solidified Berlinale
Berlinale press team sent me the location of the press conference, my eyes rolled. House of the Cultures of the World. A 1957 building straddling the Spree River in the Tiergarten section of the city. The symbolism of the location is not lost. After all the controversial headlines, the festival needed to prove point of being open to all. The problem is getting to this symbol of universal openness. Indian Jones would need patience this locale is inside the city, yet in a remote place not easily reached. I needed to take the U5 to the nearest Metro Station, Bundestag, then another eight-minute walk in -2C weather. After talking to other colleagues, we decided to watch the YouTube stream then discuss the details afterward. The reactions, The Berlinale has solidified its place as a second-tier festival.
This has been a cold January in the German Capital. Tricia Tuttle came out on stage wearing a jacket. Was this for warmth or protection? As the newly installed head of the Berlinale spoke in a clear but at times flatness enthusiasm. The jacket could have been more a security blanket. As the newly creative head read from cards, her lack of fervor became clear.
The team placed a best foot forward, going down the list of films on the scheduled to show in February. Normally before a film festival the buzz is built by press leaks of works that will unspool. The only news from Berlin concerned last year’s controversial anti-semitic row, budget cuts this year, threatened boycotts and then the sudden increased funding from the Ministry of Culture. Keeping track of a tennis ball would have been easier than staying up to date on news coming from Potsdamer Platz.
If there were high expectations, a breath of fresh air for the 75th edition of the Berlinale, the audience’s reaction sucked the air out of the room. The timid, almost chilly polite applause did not need explanation. Instead of something new, the festival was merely repackaging an average grade product. The Competition Section has a Richard Linklater work in the batch among the nineteen films in the run for the Golden Bear.
On the small-scale glamour front, the Special Section will include A Complete Unknown with Timothee Chalamet for a German Premiere and Robert Pattison in Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17 will hit the Red Carpet. Other stars confirmed to attend are Jessica Chastain with more to be announced. Perhaps the pleas for more big stars to come only reached the Junk Mailbox.
The Berlinale continues to say “It is one of the big festivals” alongside Cannes and Venice in relevance It is time to stop believing the press releases. For Tricia Tuttle, the honeymoon period is over.
The Berlinale starts Feb 13th.