Danielle Pisani-Salerno is the ultimate bag lady. At the moment her Hiroo home is bursting with handbags in endlessly different shapes and sizes that she has just produced for her new label, Virgo.
Pisani-Salerno, who studied at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, gave up a job that incorporated everything from fashion merchandising to corporate graphics design at New York's Macy's department store to follow her husband when his job took him to London. She freelanced there for two years until the company relocated them again -- to Japan.
In Japan she "got up the nerve" to start her own company. Traveling around Asia and coming across fabulous fabric gave her inspiration and, consequently, materials for the Virgo bags. The bags are handmade from Chinese silk brocade, antique Japanese kimono and obi as well as Thai silks. A unique method of covering them in different-colored organza overlay can easily transform even the most everyday patterns or garish designs to shimmery, sophisticated material perfect for evenings.