Designer Joy Gryson launched her eponymous accessories line in 2006 after an impressive corporate career that began at Liz Claiborne. There, as assistant to the Vice President of design and development, she cut her teeth in a category that would become crucial to the solvency of many a fashion house; she was then on to Coach, Calvin Klein and Marc Jacobs, all the while honing her eye for smart and desirable design. I sat down with Gryson to talk about her experiences in the industry and her three accessories lines, Gryson, Olivia Harris, and IIIBeCa.
To do justice to Gryson's words, I enlisted the gorgeous Lauren from The Marcy Stop to model designs from IIIBeCa and Olivia Harris. I styled them with vintage from Amy Yee's bitchin' online boutique, Maeven, as Gryson made clear in our conversation the importance of timeless appeal. Enjoy!
A New York City native (she grew up on the border of Queens and Long Island), Gryson went to F.I.T. for merchandising and marketing, but knew her passion lay in the creative process. "I didn't want to sit there and do numbers," she says.
She launched IIIBeCa, the youngest of her three accessories lines, in the fall of last year as a means to give back to her local community. Sales from IIIBeCa support three charities she and her husband and business partner, Peter, care deeply about: Family Focus Adoption Services, a non-profit Gryson's mother co-founded; Memorial Sloan-Kettering hospital; and the 9/11 memorial.
The look of the line was inspired by Gryson's first designer handbag, by Il Bisonte. "It was that yummy, grainy leather that you know is going to wear so well over decades. You still see all of these vintage ones today—they really are completely timeless." Despite its accessible price point, the IIIBeCa line is no stranger to the level of detail typically associated with a more expensive product. Made of vegetable-tanned Vachetta leather, the bag's interiors are left raw—taking minimalism to the max. A drawstring lining is included for customers who prefer something a little less rough. “I’m very detail oriented, that’s the Virgo-ness in me,” Gryson says with a laugh. “I’ve designed for people who are at a couture level and I’ve also designed for people who sell bags at Target, so I understand that you can make a great bag no matter what the price point is.”
