Hands to bags
By Zhao Feifei (Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2004-09-14 10:26

A handbag can make an outfit and see you apart from the rest. Richard Loh, a veteran Hong Kong fashion merchant in his late 50s, is one designer who has hit on gold mine of a female obsession.

"I'm more of a good editor than a designer," he says modestly. Loh carries everything from vintage models to exquisite evening bags and exotic art pieces. "After the September 11 attacks, you hardly saw a black handbag. Color has become a tool to make people happy, creating a whole atmosphere, warm and colorful. I love color and this is one thing I try to push," Loh says.

Loh began his business in 1997 in New York and within three years it became a US$10-million enterprise. His products are now being picked up by department stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Blooming Dales in New York, Gallerie Lafayette and Printemps in Paris, Coles Myer in Australia, Robinson in Singapore and Itokin in Japan. He also produces private label bags for specialty chain stores like Banana Republic, Gap, Victoria Secret and Shanghai Tang. Last year Loh set up his studio in Shanghai and opened his first store on Taikang Road cooperating with artist Chen Yifei and Joy Luck Club to design handbags for their labels. "The Taikang Road store is for testing the market," he explains.

"It's like a destination store. It's like people from all over the world getting a tourist map and then coming over, or Shanghainese on the weekend coming to this area and walking around. We want to get a feeling of the market, what people like, how they feel about our products. We find our products are accepted by the masses." Loh has plans to open more branch shops. His latest flagship store is on Nanjing Road W. "The first trend is 'return to vintage,' like what Luis Vuitton does. A lot of Scottish tweed fabrics are used in design with antique clasps," he says, pointing to a herring-bone tweed with embroidery bag.

"The second trend is the 'bohemian look.' It's more like a young girl on motorcycle wearing jeans. A lot of ethnic touches and a lot of cross-the-shoulders. The third is 'Hollywood glamor,' which has more to do with the evening look, an all beaded bag.

"The fourth is the 'classic lady,' with the handheld bags. Classic doesn't have to be old. We've added a little bit fun -- rhinestone things, pins and key-ring chains." Loh's signature design is embroidery and beading, "China can do beautiful embroidery work and bead work. But we must know how to use, how to reinterpret embroidery and bead work in a modern way," he says. Born in Qingdao, Shandong Province, Loh was raised in Hong Kong and went to college in the United States. His resume includes stints in public relations, retailing, sourcing, merchandising and product development.

He opened his own retail store Design Observations about 22 years ago on Columbus Avenue in Manhattan. It featured a mix of well-designed lifestyle and home products. The store carries items Loh sourced all over the world. John Lennon and Yoko Ono came to his store and bought everything to decorate their new apartment in the neighborhood. "I love marketing," Loh says cheerfully. "For example, I heard about a lady in Philadelphia. She makes chocolate brownies. She is 1.8 meters tall with blond hair like Jerry Hall. So I called her and said 'I'll pay for the air tickets, you come in and bring your chocolate brownies. I'll call TV and newspaper, they come and film, run story about you and we'll sell chocolate'."

Loh also had a book signing with Andy Warhol at his shop. With the market and neighborhood changing and rents exploding, Loh closed the Manhattan store and devoted his energy to branches he had opened in Southampton and East Hampton. "I'm basically a beach bum, so I opened four more shops there," he adds. Unfortunately the landlord wanted his property back, kicking out the tenants.

That's why Loh decided to go into wholesale. He began working for The Limited Group, which gave him a chance to travel in the East countries looking for unusual merchandise. Along the way he built up his own business and contact list. After eight years working for different divisions of the giant corporation, Loh decided to return to his roots in Hong Kong.

He worked for a year as a business development manager for Hong Kong retail giant Joyce Ma. He left later to develop a collection of handbags, which he showed in Paris at the St James Hotel. "Press and retailers in Paris had a critical eye," Loh reminisces.

"I wanted to hear what they said. But I didn't want them to know it was my collection because many knew me and I didn't think they'd tell me the truth. I hid behind a curtain and listened. They loved the collection. So I was encouraged to go back to the United States and launched it there." He returned to New York and set up an office to retail his handbags at big department stores. Four years ago, life changed when Loh underwent a brain surgery.

He closed the office in New York and reduced his travel, focusing on the Asian market. "Now we try to design a lot of bags that can be carried from day into night and weekday to weekend," Loh adds. "I want my customers to feel confident when they carry my bags." Loh says he's always on the look out for new ideas. "At my home there's a library," he says.

"I've got tons of books. I have more books on interior design than fashion. I don't just get inspiration from fashion magazines. Sometimes you can put 10 fashion magazines together and you open them and they're all the same." Loh's plans seem endless. "I'm going to create step by step a studio concept, like the original European studio concept, to develop a lot of young talents in China. Maybe they have talent but they don't have enough exposure yet," he says.

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