Emmy Rossum's Got a Brand New (Tahari) Bag

Patrick McMullan
"I think I definitely have more handbags than I have shoes," says Shameless actress Emmy Rossum when asked if she's a bag person. So it logically follows that the 24-year-old's first foray into design would be a handbag, which she designed with pal Elie Tahari. At the New York launch for the "Emmy" bag last night, Rossum explained that she met Elie and Rory Tahari at her friend Tatiana Boncompagni's book party and became fast friends with the couple. "We'd go to movies together, and just hang out. We were were really just friends more than anything. And I'd always loved his designs and worn them on the red carpet." (She was showing off his shimmering Francesca skirt last night.) As for the bag, "I really had no intention of doing it until Elie came to me, but it was a lot of fun. It was remarkably easy to work with the designers and give them my ideas. They were very receptive to them: to color patterns, to the idea of stitching, and the way the bag would have different flaps and folds. And also to making it a charitable donation to [domestic violence charity] Safe Horizons, to something that really gives back directly to people."

Though she has no previous design experience, Rossum's definitely got the instincts. She's nothing if not specific about what she wanted: "A bag that would be functional for day, for travel. A lot of big bags that are functional for women are really, really heavy to begin with. They've got lots of hardware. So I wanted [something] that would be really easy to fit a lot of stuff in, but also would have compartments so you can remain organized." The Emmy, which comes in four sizes, will cost $398 to $798 and will be available at Bergdorf Goodman, Saks and Neiman Marcus.

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