Anine Bing’s New Handbag Inspired Her to Write Music, Sing — and Model

Anine Bing poured a lot of herself — her lifelong love of frame bags, her past as a model, and her musical chops — into her latest product volley.

The Los Angeles-based Danish designer also fronted the campaign, slated to begin rolling out Thursday — and lent her given name to the linchpin style, which she hopes will further ignite her nascent leather goods business.

It’s backed by a jangly, catchy alt-rock track Bing wrote and performs, singing such lines as, “I know what makes me feel alive: In my power, I’m free” — and sounding like some long-lost musical cousin of Garbage, Blondie or Mazzy Star.

“I’ve always loved frame bags since I was a little girl,” Bing related in an interview, lifting the trapezium-shaped Anine to her shoulder and giving it a little squeeze with her elbow. “My grandmother, Ellie, she had so many beautiful vintage bags. And my favorite thing was to go vintage shopping with her.

“Even here in Los Angeles, where I’ve lived for the past 20 years, there are so many cool frame bags if you visit the flea markets,” she enthused. “So this handbag is inspired by my early days with my grandmother, but also living in Los Angeles, finding that vibe from Old Hollywood.”

Bing, who founded her business with her husband Nico in L.A. in 2012 after building a following as a model and pioneering fashion blogger, still personifies her brand best.

Now she’s teaming it with a message of empowerment, reflecting her growing confidence in herself, and the potential of her brand.

“It really represents the strong woman that I want to carry this bag,” she related over Google Meets. “It has a beautiful, strong shape, but it’s also such an easy bag that you can wear with anything, and it’ll just instantly elevate your outfit. Since I saw the first drawing and then the first sample, I fell in love… It’s just such a perfect day-to-night bag.”

Consider that it even inspired her to start writing music again.

“I used to be in a band before I started Anine Bing,” she related. “I did a record back then called ‘Kill Your Darlings,’ but then I started the brand and got so busy building this company.”

Indeed, earlier this year Bing revealed plans to expand her leather goods offering via a new design studio in Paris, which has become her second headquarters.

Julie Bourgeois, Bing’s Paris-based global brand president, said the ambition behind the Anine bag is for it to become an icon, “not just an accessory or a new piece of a collection.

“We are positioning leather good as a pillar for our brand, not just a category, and we aim to double it in the next few years,” she said.

She declined to give figures, but characterized leather goods as representing a single-digit percentage of the business at present.

Bing and Bourgeois allowed that the new Anine bag telegraphs an elevated, more mature brand image, but the Anine is priced at $650 retail, in line with its current offer.

“In terms of quality, materials and construction, we are really going further, but not in terms of price,” Bourgeois said. “We are expanding the offer, but we are not abandoning the accessibility that is very core to our brand.”

Bing’s large tote styles in leather and raffia rank as current bestsellers, finding especially strong traction in China and the Middle East, which are newer markets for the brand, according to Bourgeois.

The Anine bag will debut in limited quantities in four locations: Beverly Hills, SoHo in New York City, Mayfair in London and Saint-Germain in Paris.