Delvaux LE Brilliant Tempo Small
The fashion cognoscenti have long known that to carry the Brillant, the iconic handbag by the house of Delvaux, is to carry a work of art — an architectural-cum-sartorial feat of design and creation whose distinctive shape and structure, all beautifully held together by sculpted handles and a signature jewel-like buckle, is said to require the intricate amalgamation of no less than 64 separate pieces of leather and metal.
Inspired by the 1958 Brussels World Expo and the striking Philips Pavilion structure designed by Le Corbusier for the occasion, the Belgian maison likewise decided that 1958 was the year to unveil what is now Delvaux’s most iconic bag. Certainly if one were to study the cases and projects of the preeminent Franco-Swiss architectural designer, the commission by the Philips Company was indeed one of the most technologically exciting designs by Le Corbusier’s workshop. In fact, when tasked with the job, he was said to have remarked, “I won’t make you a pavilion with façades. I’ll make you an electronic poem and the bottle that will contain it.”
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And indeed he did. Working together with Iannis Xenakis, one of his main collaborators of the 1950s, and Edgar Varese, who came up with the electronic soundtrack for the total immersive programme that fused architecture, film and music, the end result was a multimedia audiovisual show highlighting the technological progress of the post-war period. Coupled with the pavilion’s groundbreaking tented shape, it comes as no surprise that Le Corbusier’s Electronic Poem proved to be one of the biggest draws of the 1958 World’s Fair, welcoming 1.5 million visitors for over 3,000 sessions of the Electronic Poem over the four-month period.
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Fast forward to the present, and in keeping with the spirit of the times, a fresh and lighter interpretation of the Brillant is now unveiled in the form of the Brillant Tempo. While the Brillant is characterised and revered for its regal form and bearing, the Brillant Tempo offers a more relaxed expression of the emblematic bag. Soft, supple and, dare we say, more fluid, the Brillant Tempo is perfectly updated for the modern woman and ready to be transformed in a variety of ways, ensuring it is the ideal partner for day or night, as well as on travels and adventures. Lighter and more versatile, yet losing none of Delvaux’s signature elegance, the Brillant Tempo is set to be a new contemporary classic. The Brillant Tempo is also available in a smaller version, ideal to be worn cross-body or as an evening clutch.
It comes as no surprise that Delvaux, inventor of the modern handbag and also the custodian of provenance, continues to move forward, yet always remaining inspired by the spirit of the times.
