Siedah Garrett: singer, songwriter... handbag designer?
|  | | Siedah Garrett | Mariah Carey has one. Angela Bassett, too. Oprah Winfrey brought one for herself and, of course, one for her best friend Gayle King. What is the coveted item that all of these celebrities have? A Siedah Garrett original handbag.
Best known for her work in the music industry, Garrett, a member of neo-funk band the Brand New Heavies, has written songs for music titans like Aretha Franklin, Barry White, Paula Abdul and Michael Jackson and performed with the likes of Chaka Khan, Patti Austin and, again, Michael Jackson. Most recently, she won a Grammy for co-writing the song "Love You I Do", which Jennifer Hudson performed in "Dreamgirls". Although music is her bread, butter and claim to fame, her love for handbags has inspired her to branch out into a new business. "I've long been a handbag harlot," Garrett told Black Voices.
She started making her own when she found herself without a bag to wear with a colorful outfit. Instead of scouring stores for the perfect purse, she sat down with a crochet hook and some yarn and crocheted her own. She got so many compliments from both friends and strangers on the street that she started making more to give away as gifts or to sell. The hard work paid off. Angela Bassett spotted Garrett with one of her bags at a fashion show and ended up buying more than one. Three years ago at Quincy Jones' annual Christmas party, Garrett said she wowed the celebrity guests there and, through Jones, ended up selling a bag to Mariah Carey and two to Oprah Winfrey.
Now she has expanded her line, which is available at Siedah.com, to include exotic skins such as stingray, crocodile, kangaroo and ostrich. She made sure to note that all of the skins used to make her bags are byproducts of food production. "I feel really good in that respect," she said, "that I'm not killing an animal solely to have its skin."
Both the exotic skins and hand-crocheting are costly - items in the line range from $250 for a wallet to $1,500 for a crocodile handbag - but Garrett has a new line in the works for 2009 that will include bags made from natural fabrics like cotton, linen and raw silk, which are better for the environment and a lot less expensive.
"In this dreadful, painfully scathing economy, nobody's really that keen to whip out $1,100 on a crocodile bag that says Seidah Garrett on it and not Louis Vuitton," she said. "So I'm working on a line that's more accessible than the exotic skins line."
A green handbag line isn't the only thing Garrett has coming down the pipe this year. She's putting out a new album, has plans to work and tour with her band, and is working on a one-woman play. As long as she's creating, she said, she's happy. "I like making beautiful things, whether it's an amazing lyric or an incredible handbag to go with a broach that you happen to have," she said. "I just like making things that people appreciate for their beauty." (Black Voices)
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