Catch her if you can. Always on the move, Kimberly Pucci zigzags across the globe, shifting from cars to yachts and ferries and planes — sometimes in one day. The luxury lifestyle designer has built her eponymous brand Kimberly Pucci Atelier + Vault around easing the challenges that come with travel. “With every bag comes a new adventure, but at the same time, it needs to be able to withstand the downfalls of travel. That could be a bag with comfy straps that doesn’t dig into your shoulders or one that easily fits your mode of transportation,” Pucci says. “I want to simplify the experience with luxury accessories that make sense.”
Though her primary home is in Newport, Rhode Island, where her flagship atelier is based, Pucci regularly visits Florence where she honed her craft along the Ponte Vecchio for 25 years and now has a second home. Relying on her strong relationships with Tuscany’s finest leather artisans, her luxury goods boast New England sensibility yet embody Europe’s heirloom quality that stand the test of time. Her best sellers are a large duffel bag meant for a weekend getaway, to a metallic clutch that takes you from the airport to a night out, to a wine tote for vineyard or boat days.
Pucci’s bags are fashioned with buttery-soft leather for comfort and have pliable forms that are meant to fit anywhere, whether stashed under the seat of a plane or thrown on a yacht. Every detail is customizable, including the color, stitching, hardware, as well as the handles and straps. The designer’s superpower is color, offering 250 colorways as well as customizing hues with her Tuscan tannery to match a client’s specific needs. “My signature color is Arancia orange, which reminds me of the fiery sunsets that I see from my villa in Tuscany,” Pucci says.
Her latest collections are inspired by summering in Italy in the 1960s and the sweet, ‘la dolce vita’ lifestyle. The Amalfi collection showcases an aqua color that evokes the wide-striped umbrellas that dot the beaches of Portofino, a prominent summer-white, a metallic navy that resembles the glistening sun hitting the Mediterranean around noon, and subtle splashes of turquoise. Pucci’s gender-neutral Cortona collection brags a trio of colors that include a rich chestnut brown, deep cream, and her signature bright orange. “When I see the Cortona collection, I think of men outside a bar on a hot summer day drinking a Campari on ice and smoking a cigar,” she says, adding that the collection features oversized bags, dopp kits, belts and more.
Pucci is now hyper-focused on catering to her clients’ lifestyles. “That could look like traveling by private air with your dog, to carrying a surfboard that matches your weekend bag to the Hamptons. It’s a celebration of how we’re living,” she says. That includes the release of the Frankie collection, a line of pet accessories named after her late father and her golden retriever. With an increase in pet travel, especially on private planes, owners can coordinate their dog’s collars, leashes, waste bag holders and other accessories. For her pop-up at this summer’s Holiday House in the Hamptons, a non-profit designer showhouse, Pucci created The Art of Leisure Reimagined collection that will elevate any beach party. “It includes my first-ever surfboard bag, oversized rattan chairs with signature KP cushions in raffia and leather, a hand-painted corn hole toss with leather bean bags, and a leather travel trunk for Champagne and bites.”
But it’s the moments when Pucci brings out the black velvet trays displaying her custom jewelry shining with precious and semi-precious stones and exquisite diamonds that eyes pop. With access to the world’s most prestigious artisans and diamond sources, she can create everything from standout necklaces to cocktail rings. Her Vault collection now stars handwoven bangle bracelets and necklaces in metallic leather that are finished in 18-karat gold. “The long-tasseled necklace can even be worn as a belt,” she advises.
This fall, Pucci will walk the runway of New York Fashion Week in Manhattan — one of only a few accessories designers to do so — and soon, clients can find her collections at high-end stores around the globe, as well as online and at her flagship boutique. “This brand has inevitably evolved into the ultimate culmination of everything I love from traveling to entertaining and spending time enjoying my passions,” she says. “Taking time to enjoy the journey while creating new experiences and memories is the inspiration behind the brand.” kimberlypucci.com
