Colourful, sexy bags with a cult following

Noteworthy for: One of Vietnam's most successful fashion exports, Ipa-Nima has stores in Berlin, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Mauritus and Japan.

Talk of the town: Hilary Clinton, who owns several Ipa-Nima bags, famously told US Harper's Bazaar in 2012 that handbags are a 'uniter of women'.

Hong Kong-born, Vietnam-based former lawyer Christina Yu has garnered quite the international following for her collections of bright handbags and accessories that embody the four f's: functionality, funkiness, fantasy and flair. And while the label sounds like it was conceived on the beaches of Rio, Ipa-Nima is actually an acronym of Idee Parfaites Naissent de Notre Imagination Magnifique. In English: Ideas from the House of Magnificent Imagination.

Ranging from the simplistically chic to the gaudily ornate, each design-led bag uses the finest silk, leather, crocodile and suede to create imaginative and opinion-dividing pieces at fairly affordable prices.