Why Small Is The New Luxury

There was a time when your oversized leather tote had to be able to carry your weighty laptop, gargantuan phone and even your dog, but as technology has shrunk, so have bags - and a London label is cashing in on the shift. Yuzefi, a handbag label launched by Yousefi just last year, will make its London Fashion Week debut later this year, and so far the very small, deconstructed bags that form the collection have had a warm reception.

"There are a lot of brands that do great big bags, but I wanted to start with something more playful," Nasa Yousefi, the designer behind Yuzefi, told us. "People wear small bags when they are going somewhere, when they are more carefree and ready to have fun. I also am a fan of owning less and carrying less, we spend our lives being weighed down and held back by things we don't need. I noticed that the less I carried the more open I was to doing and experiencing. It is now perfectly acceptable to wear your cool gym gear to work or brunch so you don't need to carry that heavy tote full of things you haven't used in a week and you can have more fun with your style."

Having worked on ready-to-wear collections in the studios of Giles Deacon, Richard Nicoll, Christopher Shannon and Christopher Kane, Yousefi found herself working in leather goods by accident after creating pieces for fashion editorials styled and shot by creatives including Hedi Slimane, Patti Wilson and Steven Klein. As a fashion lecturer - based at London's Istituto Marangoni - Yousefi spends much of her time warning her students of the pitfalls of one of the world's most competitive industries, while in her own time she is busy building a brand that hopes to compete with luxury's biggest names one day.

"I learn from my students every day," she told us. "It is fascinating to get a glimpse into their worlds and see what resonates with them. Things are changing so fast and if you blink you are left behind, the other challenge for us all is to stay forever young minded and relevant. The biggest challenge in setting up on your own is that you do not learn much about the business side of things at fashion schools, and most established businesses you might work for will not provide you with the experience to start your own, but London is a great place to be in because of the support you can get from organisations such as BFC and CFE. They can help fill the knowledge gap, and taught me to think outside the box and create an infrastructure that can function efficiently."

Made in London, the bags displayed Yousefi's fascination with the process of creating leatherware but placing elements normally hidden within a luxury bag on the outside for all to see.

"I became fascinated by the versatility of leather, but I wanted to rebel against the conventional craftsmanship and give it a harder edge," the designer told us of her move from ready-to-wear to leatherwork. "It took about a year to test and refine the ideas I had into something that felt right.

From our exposed gusset to the bolt hardware that keeps the box structure together, every structural or functional element has been transformed into a design feature that highlights the unconventional craftsmanship and the work that goes into making our bags."