Athena 806: Black Bridle Leather Handbag with Finger Loop Handles
A studded handbag named for the goddess of handicraft, carried by individual finger loops
Athena presides over war, handicraft and practical reason, according to Britannica, which makes her a patron of anyone who makes things for a living (Britannica). I have my philosophy degree and my Greek heritage behind the name, and the bag that carries it, the Athena 806 in black English bridle leather, is a round bag, six inches across, with studs along the top and individual loops for the fingers.
Video: “Athena 806 English bridle leather handbag,” Marcellino NY Briefcase Maker on YouTube, January 2, 2020. This is the studded Athena.
Why the name
Britannica calls her the goddess of war, handicraft and practical reason, and says her war is the intellectual side of it, set against Ares, who stands for plain bloodlust. I knew her as the goddess of wisdom. Either way she is the figure for making. Britannica’s entry on Arachne tells the weaving contest in which Athena tore a rival’s tapestry apart and Arachne ended as a spider.
Greek mythology has interested me for a long time, and the gods keep turning up in how I name things. A round, hard, studded bag seemed to fit a goddess whose war is the reasoned kind.
A knuckle-style handle made of loops
On most bags the handle is a strap. On this one the top is a row of four black finger loops, each topped with a brass spike, and you carry it by sliding your fingers through them. The profile reminded me of knuckles, and I had Alexander McQueen’s handbags in mind while I worked, which I said in the video. It is a shout-out to his style, with my round shape under it.
The risk is fit. I have large hands, and mine slide through. The span of the grips is about six inches, so I said I would have to see how smaller hands manage. A thinner leather would make smaller holes easier, but thin leather will not hold the shape, so I would sooner change the oval of the hole. That trade is the whole design problem.
If the loops do not suit someone, the bag has a leather shoulder strap with a buckle. It can also be carried as a clutch with two fingers, or on the wrist with the loop.
Studs in the history of tough clothes
Studded leather has a record in museums. The Metropolitan Museum’s page on punk and fashion describes “punk couture” as haute hardware, built from chains, zippers, padlocks and safety pins, and says studs replaced bugle beads in couture. The Victoria and Albert Museum holds a black leather jacket by Katharine Hamnett from the late 1980s, with hexagonal and round studs riveted across the leather. Its record ties the black leather jacket to teenage rebellion since the 1950s and to Marlon Brando in The Wild One.
A bag with brass spikes sits in that tradition. The difference is where the hardware goes. On a jacket it is decoration. On the Athena it is the handle.
Round, with a latch that wraps
The Athena is the round line: six inches across, with a brass D-ring on the round end for the strap, and my Marcellino latch curving around the body. The inside is lined in smooth blue, which the black leather and brass hide until you open it.
A second Athena was planned with a round handle and red lining, so you see black, brass, then red. I made another green Athena in 2019 with a hand-carved brass handle instead of studs, in the same round shape.
Thick leather, kept thick
The leather is English bridle, thick enough to keep a round bag round. Thin leather would let the loops sit easier on a small hand and let the whole shape collapse. I would sooner keep the body hard and change the oval.
Sources
- Athena 806 English bridle leather handbag (Marcellino NY Briefcase Maker, YouTube, January 2, 2020)
- Athena (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
- Arachne (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
- Punk: Chaos to Couture (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
- Black leather jacket by Katharine Hamnett (Victoria and Albert Museum)
How it is made
The latch is the Original Marcellino Latch, which I developed with attorney clients as a strong, quick alternative to a buckle.
The bridle leather is described on my leather page, and the journal explains it in What English Bridle Leather Actually Is, and Why Briefcases Are Cut From It.
