The leather huarache has long been a summer staple, and it’s easy to see why. These long-wearing, casual beauties project a cool, worldly, picked-these-up-at-a-little-market vibe. They have been worn in Mexico and Latin America for hundreds of years, but grew in popularity here during the 1960s, and have been seen recently on everyone from Hollywood celebs to urban trendsetters seeking a little bit of sand and surf in the city. Our designers conjured up a version very much in keeping with the traditional, beachy style, but adding a little height- keeping it ladylike and suitable for a city-summer too.
Vintage advertisement from Glamour, circa 1943.
People use a lot of names for that most luxe of leathers, you know, the one with the hair still on it. Around here, we say haircaf, but calfhair or ponyhair (it’s actually cow) are also totally fine. But what does haircalf actually mean?
I’ll let Tina, of the awesome blog BagSnob, explain…
“Basically, it is the hair side of the animal. It is considered a “pelt”, same as fur. The leather that we are most familiar with is actually the underside, the non-hair side of the skin. Haircalf (the most common term, but in fashion ponyhair is used to make it sound sexier) is more expensive than the average leather but the cost is in the finish of the hair… [and] because it is harder to work with during manufacturing.”
There you have it! And you can see how we used haircalf in one of our spring bags below, a little peek at the process…
1. So many styles to choose from!
2. The final choice (love the tassles!)
3. Choosing the print or motif is always difficult. We did a custom zebra print for this one.
4. Oops, they’re a little too long in the sample. Gotta give notes to the factory.
5. The finished piece! A little bit of mid-winter luxe- I think my puffy black parka could use some spicing-up. Want one of your own? Check it out here.
