Belladonna 540: Navy Italian Vegetable Tanned Crossbody

A navy crossbody cut to fold, with a flat handle, a gold lock plate and a lining you only see when it opens

The Belladonna 540 is a small crossbody in soft Italian vegetable tanned leather, dark navy, with a flat handle across the top and a strap that clips on with gold clasps. It folds shut. That is most of the design, and most of the reason it was quick to make.

One fold in place of seams

The body is cut so the leather folds over itself and closes the bag. A fold replaces seams, and every seam is work: holes to punch, edges to finish, waste to trim away.

I said the same thing on camera in 2016, on CNBC’s Billion Dollar Buyer, about a different bag. Most things are made with parts stitched together, I told the host. My version is one piece of leather, folded a certain way, stitched less, so it takes less labor. I called it the origami folding method. The Belladonna runs on the same idea.

Soft leather from Tuscany

The leather is soft Italian vegetable tanned leather. Tuscan vegetable tanning uses plant tannins in a gradual process. The consortium that guards it says the hides are soaked in drums, fleshed and split, delimed and pickled, then left in a bath of plant extracts for a number of days, and that colors deepen with age and use. The consortium manages the trademark “Pelle Conciata al Vegetale in Toscana,” requires production entirely in Tuscany and has an outside auditor check compliance.

I cannot say whether the hide in this bag carries that mark. What I can say is what it does in the hand. It is supple, without the stiffness of bridle leather, and it takes on a patina as it is used. Navy hides a lot. Scuffs blend into it and the leather warms as it ages.

The lock plate

A gold plate sits at the front, stamped J.P. Marcellino Co., New York, with two round pegs and a keyhole. A small key hangs on a twisted cord, tied to the flap. Over the plate, a strap runs down the flap and holds it closed, fixed with three brass rivets.

Handle and strap

The handle is flat, a single band of leather across the top. For crossbody carry, the strap clips to gold clasps on either side. It has a row of holes with brass studs along its length, so the drop can be set to fit the person wearing it.

Inside

Under the flap the bag is lined with a nylon fabric in a pattern of small navy and gold circles on grey. It is a bright surprise against the dark outside.

Nylon is not old. The Science History Institute says a colleague of the DuPont chemist Wallace Carothers drew the first nylon fiber in May 1934, and calls it the first fully synthetic commercial fiber, strong, elastic, light and resistant to mildew. Britannica dates its first commercial production to 1938. A light lining keeps a soft bag light with a phone and keys in it.

Sources

• Marcellino Briefcase Maker on Billion Dollar Buyer Entire Episode (Marcellino NY Briefcase Maker, YouTube, May 26, 2016)
• The vegetable tanning process (Consorzio Vera Pelle Italiana Conciata al Vegetale)
• The consortium (Consorzio Vera Pelle Italiana Conciata al Vegetale)
• Nylon: a revolution in textiles (Science History Institute)
• Wallace Hume Carothers (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

How it is made

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.

The seams are hand stitched; see The Saddle Stitch Explained: Hand-Sewing Leather Step by Step for the method.