Last night, Coco Rocha and Monica Botkier celebrated their new handbag collaboration in New York at the Ace Hotel. Not only were they toasting the new collab, but also 13 years in their respective industries. So how did the two meet? “We stalked her and said, ‘please, please, please!'” said Botkier. “She’s someone who is super fashion-forward and she’s in the public eye in so many ways and she’s accomplished so many things. She had a lot of ideas, and the collaboration won’t be limited to this season. We want it to be able to develop. We’ve had such a good time and it’s been so well received.”
This is Rocha’s first designer collaboration, and the top model said she expected it to be hard when she first signed on. “The Botkier team really made me feel comfortable, especially since I was coming into this with all of these wild ideas,” said Rocha. “They never made me feel like I didn’t know what I was talking about or that something was too complicated. That was really nice since it was my first time working on something like this. It made me feel like it wasn’t as scary.”
And she’s a purse fanatic. “We’re moving and the first thing they are working on is my closet,” said Rocha. “I’m so overwhelmed with how many bags and clothes I have. I know that’s such a first world problem. It’s funny because I’m not a hoarder at all. I can get rid of anything.” As for her favorite bag, Rocha said she was especially fond of the fur-accented tote, because it doubled as her diaper bag when she had her daughter Ioni, who’s now 8 months old.
Last night, Rocha was carrying a small Botkier x Coco Rocha handle bag with her daughter’s name stitched onto the back. “I decided this is going to be her bag one day, especially when we travel,” said Rocha. “You see these kids with these big Barbie backpacks and then in the end the mom ends up carrying it! So my theory is that if I give her this bag, then I can hold it when she doesn’t want to carry it and it will work for me too.”
The Botkier x Coco Rocha collection includes six styles inspired by the four fashion capitals—New York, Paris, Milan, and London—and prices range from $248 to $448. Fans can find the totes on Botkier.com, and in Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord and Taylor, Dillard’s, Kitson, and over 200 specialty stores. Check out the new collaboration below.
