Designer purse strings: handbag entrepreneurs develop a following with retro look.

Why purses?

It seems a simple enough question for hip Costa Mesa handbag and shoe designers Mia Manyer and Jennifer Perkins.

Manyer struggles to find the right words.

She picks up one of their purses, The Deluxe. The sleek bag is made with teal green vinyl, the same material used in 1950s cars and diner booths. It has four chrome bullet feet, like the ones found on old hot rod license plate holders. It's lined with a shimmery, silver vintage fabric.

"This is why," she said, showing off the bag. "It's the closest I'll ever come to being an artist. I can't paint. But to me, this is my paint and brush."

Each handbag--there are 14 styles--tells its own story and is numbered for authenticity.

The Fury, a pair of pointy-toed shoes and matching handbag, represent high rollers of 1950s Las Vegas (Perkins' favorite haunt). Its hangtag reads "sharp wit, sharp edged and always full of style."

The Sands, a purse, features original dice, playing cards and casino chips from the former Sands in Las Vegas. There's also the Sweet Tart, Dirty Martini, Bloody Mary and Double Down, to name a few.

"We like the idea of taking the old and revamping it and making it funky," Perkins said. "We don't just look at it as a handbag."

Ultracool design scene

Their company, Revamp Productions, pays "homage to the best of the best in pop culture," said Perkins, who met Manyer when the two were working for Walt Disney Co. They started the company from their Costa Mesa garages a year and a half ago.

Revamp remains small (the women decline to say what sales are) but has become part of Orange County's ultracool design scene, which includes apparel maker Paul Frank Industries Inc., shoe designer George Esquivel and pop artist Shag.

Hand-made creations from Revamp, which sell for $100 to $450 at about 20 upscale boutiques, are sported by Reese Witherspoon in "Legally Blonde 2" and Sarah Jessica Parker in "Sex and the City." Other celebrity fans include new wave pioneer Nina Hagen and Kelly Osbourne.

"They really have a niche in the market," said handbag maker Edwin Sanchez of Los Angeles-based Armandi, which does work for Revamp. "The styles they're bringing back are so unique. They have a good eye."

Manyer and Perkins said they are sticklers for craftsmanship, reflected by the use of fabrics that cost $100 a yard, or more than 10 times that of everyday fabrics. "They're not an everyday bag," said Khani-Jo Zuhi, owner of Zulu Tatoo & Eclectic Boutique in Los Angeles. "The quality is amazing. They're more like handbags for a handbag collector."

Revamp's purses and matching shoes all are made by hand in Southern California. Perkins said things will stay that way, even as Revamp grows.

The partners took a lesson on quality from their personal collection of vintage purses. Manyer said they "sacrificed a few" to see "what their guts were made of."

Apparel dissection is nothing new for these two.

Manyer, who went to high school in Huntington Beach, and Perkins, who grew up in L.A. and Orange County, made their own clothes as teens in the mid-1980s (they didn't know each other then).

They both "lived for vintage stores," where they would scout for cool fabrics and retro clothes. While Manyer took apart shoes, Perkins cut up dresses and sewed pieces together to create new looks.

'The same eye'

Manyer, who lived in London for 10 years after high school, worked as a freelance costume designer for musicians, including Squeeze, English Beat and Elton John.

Perkins also went to London after high school (though they still didn't know each other). She studied fashion design and costume history, and worked for nightclubs booking hotels and making arrangements for featured bands, such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jane's Addiction.

She also worked at London's Angels & Bermans costume house, where she helped create getups for films such as "Immortal Beloved" and the TV show "Absolutely Fabulous."

Perkins and Manyer didn't meet until three years ago while working for Disney.

"We have the same eye," Perkins said. "If there's 12 pieces of fabrics on the wall, her first three favorites and mine are the same."

So the two decided to launch their company. But they didn't want to go with anything average. After all, Perkins drives a 1954 opalescent green Cadillac, has fuchsia hair, cropped straight bangs and often wears a giant bow headband. On a recent day, she donned a bowling shirt that said "Dot" on the breast and a black-and-white polka-dot skirt.

Manyer, who drives a 1962 Ford Meteor, recently sported a red T-shirt, a hot pink blazer with a giant flower on the breast and a hair clip with a plastic police car. On her arm and leg are tattoos.

One way Revamp gets its looks is by working with Los Angeles-based jewelry and accessory maker Eldorado Club International, which created charms popular in the 1930s and 1940s. Revamp is using some of those same molds for trinkets on its purses and for its upcoming line of charms.

"We believe life should be a show--not just average," Perkins said. "It should be a production."