BORBONESE

Borbonese was founded in Turin in 1910 by the milliner Lucia Lorenzoni Ginestrone, supplying accessories to the city's tailors long before it was a bag brand in its own right. What it is known for came much later: the Occhio di Pernice, or partridge eye, a small repeating print developed in the 1970s and applied to suede, which remains the one thing that identifies a piece of Borbonese at a distance. No model lines are matched in our catalogue, so the print is the useful sorting device. Suede grounds rub and lighten at the corners and the print wears away with them, which is where most of the condition difference sits; the leather-trimmed and all-leather styles hold up far better. Rivet and bracket hardware are the brand's other recurring marks.