Getting Personal

Bespoke products appeal to those looking for true luxury but could they also have a more altruistic purpose?

- Polly Phillips

BESPOKE. For some, it’s become a term synonymous with crazy customisations, frivolous luxury or total impracticality. Yet the purpose of a bespoke or made-to-order item was originally one of functionality and sustainability. Clothes were made to fit and built to last, while luggage was stamped with initials for instant recognition. London 'it-girl' Tamara Ecclestone may have carried a Dhs78,000 bespoke Birkin with her daughter’s face daubed on it on her arm, but the world’s most coveted carry-all actually came into being famous in 1981, when the late Hermès chief executive Jean-Louis Dumas sat next to the French singer and actress Jane Birkin on a flight. Noting her belongings spilling out of her disposable straw tote, he resolved to fix the problem, designing the first bespoke Birkin bag just for her.

From there a star was born and bespoke bags began their meteoric ascent to fashion’s highest echelons, acquiring an air of exclusivity as waiting lists filled with people wanting to own something unique, which they could then pass down on to the next generation.

“People love bespoke,” says Tamara Hostal, founder of the French Fashion Institute ESMOD Dubai. Hostal, who also owns fashion boutique Polette, which specialises in sourcing limited and exclusive collections for its clientele, explains the appeal of madeto-order: “It usually has an element of exclusivity and allows the client to become the decision maker. It’s an expression of luxury.”