SEPTEMBER 2009: "Viva Italia". Talk about commitment to craft: Jeffrey Parker and Tony Ta uprooted their entire lives for JT Italia, their new handbag line. The Fashion Institute of Technology-educated pair-they bonded in draping class—toiled in various corporate design positions while kicking around the idea of setting out on their own; their pipe dream was a small luxury collection produced in the fabled factories of Florence. So last year the duo relocated to the Italian city and launched an unabashedly luxe lineup of leather totes and pave crystal clutches, their silhouettes folded, stitched and, yes, draped meticulously. "We felt we could match the techniques of ready-to-wear," Ta explains. "No one was doing these kinds of curved seams and darts." Consider it tailoring for one’s carryall.

-Sarah Haight