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This years successors to the Alexa, the Margaret (inspired by the late HRH) and the Edna (which comes in coral or camel, complete with detachable, charm -adorned straps that can be worn as a necklace or belt) are selling strongly, particularly in Australia, South Korea (you wouldnt believe how fashion- conscious they are) and the US, a market that has hitherto proved stubbornly resistant to Mulberrys slightly distressed appeal but where sales are now up 100 per cent on the previous year. They like that two-for- one thing with the chain, says Hill.
But the UK is still Mulberrys biggest market. Theres plenty of room for growth but you always want your product to resonate with the domestic market for it to have authenticity as a British brand, says Davis.
Accordingly, Hill has remained true to Mulberrys distinctively unblingy ethos while nudging the bags in a more feminine, decorative direction, with distinctive postman-lock hardware and a vamped-up mulberry-tree logo that she used as an all-over motif on one bag. Its a skilful sleight of hand that shows Hills sense of playfulness as well as her practicality. She is, after all, the product of a maths professor father and an art teacher mother. But in the end you cant be too analytical, says the self-confessed leather geek, who relishes hanging out in factories. No one needs a small coral drawstring pouch: its hardly the height of practicality. And yet you see that shot of colour, you feel the squishy shrunken leather and you just want it.
After her stint with Burberry in 1992, Hill hightailed it to New York, a city she still loves, which she says provides half her aesthetic sensibility. She was there for 15 years, starting at the mass-market Liz Claiborne, which hired her for her European cool. But I was so European it freaked them out and they packed me off to tour the malls of the Midwest, where I just sat open-mouthed watching the customers ... lets just say theyre quite large.
From Claiborne she went to Donna Karan and then Calvin Klein, where the staff are emphatically not large (I got very thin. Basically, no one eats there). Even though her own taste (today shes wearing red patent Martine Sitbon stilettos and khaki combats) is colourful and eclectic, she loved working in Kleins minimalist world.
I had a Hello Kitty pencil case and a Hello Kitty light that flashed on my pencil and they were all like, do you really need that thing? And I said if you want the bags, Hello Kitty stays. So they devised this early-warning system and whenever Calvin was coming down to our floor I would throw everything into a drawer . . . I adored working for Calvin. Hes such a visionary.
She worked for Marc Jacobs, too, where she was responsible for the Stella, a multi-pocketed bag that was one of his early bestsellers and a game-changer, not only visually but because it proved that clothes designers could have just as much success with bags as more traditional accessories houses. Finally she was courted by Gap, which in two seasons she turned from an accessories desert into a destination for fashion editors and cognoscenti looking for cheap style thrills until they fired her.
Even that shock wasnt enough to send her back to London. But a love affair with a fellow Brit did, although they broke up while she was pregnant with their son, Hudson, whom she christened after the West Village street in which she lived. The name is tattooed on her ankle a tribute to her son rather than the street, but she loves the energy of New York, and its exacting demands. All those years Mulberry was struggling in the US, it was because the bags they were sending there were the heavy, vegetable-dyed ones. The straps were too wide to wear on the shoulder; the hardware, particularly of the Roxanne, weighed a tonne.
Hills international outlook is undoubtedly invaluable to a brand that needs to keep its British identity yet appeal globally. As is her gender. I can always tell when a mans designed a bag, she says. Its heavy, has too many pockets, or maybe the opening is too small or it squeaks or its just generally overdesigned and really annoying.
Hills latest offering, the Tilly, has her trademark simplicity; a sort of updated Alexa, it launches on January 14. Now she is working on strengthening Mulberrys ready-to-wear, which so far is sold only in its own stores. Why bother when the bags are so strong? Because you cant build a label these days without a complete vision and that has to include clothes, she says.
So for the moment the brand looks unstoppable: a victor of the economic fallout. What we do well is understated luxury, with a strong sense of heritage, which is important in a recession, says Hill. Sentiment moved with us. That image of people staggering down Bond Street decked out with the mega brands, it was a bit revolting, wasnt it?