BASKET BAG - time traveller with style

The basket bag is both one of 2023's most important fashion bags and timeless style icon. This according to major international fashion magazines such as Vouge, Elle, Marie Claire*). Stylish textures and materials, such as raffia, are highlighted. The basket bag combines the beautiful, tasteful and full of character with a high degree of functionality: The basket bag fulfils its role on the trip, the beach, outings, work.
The La Maison Afrique FAIR TRADE range includes several models of basket bags.

The fashion bag's journey through time: Audrey Hepburn contributed to making the basket bag an attractive fashion bag already in the 50s, Jane Birkin did it in the 1960s-70s. Vogue writes in 2023 “From the seaside to the city, the basket tote has since become a mainstay in our wardrobes.”
The basket's journey through time: Basketry is one of mankind's oldest crafts. The oldest known baskets were discovered at Faiyum in Upper Egypt and have been carbon-dated to be between 10,000 and 12,000 years old, earlier than any established dates for archaeological evidence of pottery vessels.
Baskets have been made all over the world where plant fibres for its production were available. Technology has been adapted to what materials were available. Baskets are often used to transport or store. The fact that the weight of the basket materials is small in relation to their strength makes baskets suitable for transport - and contributes to that the basket bag remains a functional favourite through time.

Basket bags in La Maison Afrique FAIR TRADE range:
La Maison Afrique FAIR TRADE range includes several models of basket bags. Stylish and functional basket bags, which all are genuine crafts skilfully made of the artisan’s local natural fibres; raffia, sisal, sedges.

Art nr 21450 Basket bag Soleil GM Basket bag that combines the functions of the basket with the attractiveness of the beautiful bag:
The basket bag has outside of nicely patterned braided raffia palm leaves, inside of plaited sedges. The plaited sedges gives shape and carrying strength as well as flexibility that makes the basket bag comfortable to use.
If you want to close the basket bag, you use the drawstring closure made of cotton fabric. The cotton fabric is in a colour that matches the outside of the basket bag.
The handles are made of wide double-stitched raffia braids and have extra length so that the basket bag can be carried on the shoulder.
Colours: Natural white with drawstring closure in beige cotton textile. Pastel blue with drawstring closure in pastel blue cotton textile. Pastel pink with drawstring closure in pastel pink cotton textile. Approx. Measures: H32cm Bottom32x20cm Upper width42cm
GM = Grand Modèle: The basket bag is available in three sizes, of which this (Art nr. 21450) is the largest. The medium (MM) has Art Nr. 21451, the smallest (PM) has Art Nr. 21452
Basket bag Soleil has a matching hat: Art nr 25181 Chapeau Soleil
The basket bag, as well as the hat, are made from the artisan's local, renewable and sustainable natural materials: sun-dried raffia palm leaves and plaited sedges. The production is a genuine craft. On La Maison Afrique FAIR TRADE website you find more information about the raffia basketry and the basketry where sedges are materials.

Art nr 24130 Basket bag jabo cannelle Large basket bag with the outside of unique hand-woven material "jabo"; a combination of cotton thread and raffia palm leaves. Some thin cinnamon sticks have been woven in to create patterns - and make the bag even more unique.
The handles are made of braided sisal and have extra length so that the bag can be carried on the shoulder.
The inside of the bag is plaited of sedges.
The basket bag has an inner pocket with a zipper closure.
If you want to close it, use the drawstring closure of cotton fabric.
Colour: Natural white with hints of cinnamon brown streaks. Drawstring closure of beige cotton textile.
Approx. Dimensions: H33cm Bottom31x20cm Upper width45cm

Art nr 24131 Basket bag woven sisal Large basket bag with outside of hand-woven natural white sisal, inside of braided sedges.
Braided sisal handle. The handles have extra length so that the basket bag can be carried on the shoulder.
The basket bag has an inner pocket with a zipper closure.
If you want to close the basket bag, use the drawstring closure made of cotton fabric.
Colour: Natural white sisal with drawstring closure in beige cotton textile.
Approx. Measures: H33-35cm Bottom32x20cm Upper width45cm

Art nr 24152 Basket bag Etoile GM Basket bag Etoile has a front of raffia palm leaves braided in a star pattern. The back is of hand-woven raffia palm leaves. (What the raffia palm looks like can also be seen on the photo with the basket bags.)
The basket bag has the inside of braided sedges. The braided sedges gives shape and makes the basket bag comfortable to use.
If you want to close the basket bag, use the drawstring closure made of cotton fabric.
The handles are made of double-stitched raffia braids with extra length so that the basket bag can be carried on the shoulder.
Colour: Natural white with drawstring closure in beige cotton textile. Approx. Dimensions: H32cm Bottom35x22cm Upper width40cm

The basket bags above are just a few examples. See more beautiful, functional Fair Trade bags under the menu heading "BAGS" on the La Maison Afrique FAIR TRADE website. All bags in La Maison Afrique FAIR TRADE range are handmade from the artisans' locally grown natural fibres and are genuine crafts made with great skill.
Most important of all: It is Fair Trade crafts that supports global Sustainable Development - ecologically, economically and socially. It's something we all - on a small, round planet - need.
The need for strengthened efforts for a global Sustainable Development has been actualized in the summer of 2023, when the UN's evaluation of goal fulfilment regarding Agenda 2030 shows that the world is frighteningly far from what is needed for a Sustainable future. More about this can be found under the news heading "Global Sustainable Development Goals - report 2023”

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*) THE BASKET BAG IN THE FASHION MAGAZINE
Some quotes from and links to articles in Elle, Marie Claire, Vogue

Elle writes in 2023: “25 Best Basket Bags to Tote Around All Summer Long. Perfect for picnics, beaches, and beyond. (…) Specifically, with a little bit of wicker and raffia (read: basket bags). Not only does the versatile accessory give major French girl energy, but it effortlessly blends style and functionality.”
https://www.elle.com/fashion/shopping/g43896327/best-basket-bags/

Marie Claire writes in 2023: “And while the best basket bags are undeniably timeless and will always be on fashion's list of cult classics, the artisanal style is experiencing its fair share of trendy buzz for summer 2023. Crafty textures (think: raffia and straw) are a leading factor in summer 2023's trending bags” https://www.marieclaire.com/fashion/best-basket-bags/

Vogue writes in 2023: "Before the Birkin, She Was Carrying Wicker Baskets. Jane Birkin didn’t believe in destiny, but there must have been a hint of it in the air when she had a chance encounter in 1983 with Jean-Louis Dumas, the artistic director, and CEO of Hermès, on an Air France flight. (…)It was her hefty basket and its gushing contents that caught the attention of Dumas on that plane. Overflowing with keys, makeup, and the occasional baguette, and often touted alongside an armful of market finds, magazines, pastry boxes, and a fading cigarette, Birkin’s rounded wicker bag was her first hallmark style stamp. (…) From the seaside to the city, the basket tote has since become a mainstay in our wardrobes.” https://www.vogue.com/article/jane-birkin-basket-bag-summer-shopping-ideas

Vogue writes in 2022: “Why Every Closet Needs a Woven, Net, or Market Basket Bag. Several bags get classified as classic—a structured black leather bag, a monogrammed canvas tote, a satin clutch for dressier moments. But what about the wicker purse, the best basket bag of them all? Since its heyday in the 1950s, when women toted around wicker and plasticky woven top-handle bags all summer long, the bag has maintained its status. It’s important to note the many iterations for the basket bag; there’s the au currant designer market tote bag (popularized by Loewe) that riffs on the traditional French and Moroccan woven palm-leaf bags. There are also the bucket-shaped bags popularized by Jane Birkin and Cesta Collective that are pretty much just a basket worn as a purse.” https://www.vogue.com/article/best-basket-bags

Vogue writes in 2018: “The Evolution Of The Basket Bag. “Beloved of Audrey Hepburn and Jane Birkin, woven bags ooze chic, off-duty appeal – and now they've risen the high-fashion ranks to become the season's must-have accessory. Vogue charts their journey.
The art of weaving bags from natural materials – dried grass or bamboo, for example – is millennia-old, with basketry techniques dating back at least to ancient Egypt. It was in the 1950s, though, that the straw tote came to be seen as a stylish item associated with luxurious travel, sold in holiday destinations as a chic souvenir. In London, The Eaton Bag Company purveyed desirable raffia bags and woven trunks, while across the Atlantic, cane bags woven in Nantucket became a vacation status symbol for wealthy Americans. Audrey Hepburn, who lived in Holland and Belgium as a child, often carried a basket.
But wicker’s most enduring style moment came in the late 1960s and 1970s, when Jane Birkin made a picnic basket her signature accessory when she was out and about in Paris, Cannes and London. She didn’t know it then, but she was planting the seed for a million Instagram #inspo posts.” https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/basket-bag-trend