In Enid, his 2021 memoir about his parents, ranch life and the birth of Collins of Texas, Jeep Collins explains that the now-famous haute couture handbags began as gifts for friends. Working at the kitchen table, Enid drew designs, Frederic cut leather and sculpted brass, and they put it all together. Fred sold the first Collins of Texas collection in 1946, to Neiman Marcus for $500. More orders followed, and soon enough even bigger success, when Enid had an idea for handbags from wooden boxes.

Frederic built a woodworking shop to make the boxes from exotic woods while Enid sourced faux jewels from Europe, Hong Kong and Japan. In 1956, they moved out of the kitchen and into commercial space in Medina. The first Collins box bags were manufactured by a staff of just 11, supplemented by little Jeep and Cynthia (who later became the original “Collins Girl” model in the company’s ads). In 1958, Collins of Texas incorporated and four years later built a 7,000-sq.-ft. factory with the modern equipment. Still, much of the work was done by hand, including application of the jewel patterns that were making the bags instantly recognizable, and coveted by patrons of the most fashionable boutiques. By the mid 1960s, Enid’s box bags were sold the world over.

After Enid and Frederic divorced in 1970, the company, which had relocated to Fredericksburg, Texas, was sold to Tandy Corp. Enid continued as head designer but left not long after. Tandy continued to produce Collins of Texas bejeweled bags, at first using Enid’s designs then switching to derivatives by various, unattributed designers. Today, Collins of Texas is once again privately owned by the Parstabar family and back in Medina, producing fine leather bags and a “Classics” line that uses vintage designs from its archive of Enid’s original drawings and patterns.

After leaving Tandy Corp., Enid semi-retired in Fredricksburg and continued to work as maker and patron of fine art. She died in 1990. Today, her designs are prized as important, original pieces of what Enid always told us that they were: wearable art.

About Karen Adler

Enid Collins and I share a particular spirit: part artist, part entrepreneur. As Enid Collins put it, “I’m a mixed bag.”

My academic and professional interests have always intertwined and encompassed many disciplines. As an undergrad at Southern Illinois University, I double majored in journalism and Spanish, then worked as a print reporter for a few years after graduation. When United Airlines gave me the opportunity to fly with them as a flight attendant, I took the chance to explore the world––for 20 years. Flying exposed me to an indescribable diversity of places, people and cultures, and led me back to school to earn an M.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Northern Illinois University.

This professional passion next took me me to Boulder, Colo., where I completed three years of doctoral study with the University of Colorado Boulder’s cultural anthropology program. I returned to UC Boulder in 2021 to plunge myself into current thinking and methodology of museology, earning a Professional Certificate in 2023.

In the early 2000s, I began painting and developed a strong interest in the burgeoning art scene around Boulder and Denver. Over the next decade, I continued to paint while also launching and operating Manifest Art Gallery in Niwot, Colo., for two years, and raising a family on a ranch in the Rocky Mountain foothills.

Today, I serve as collection manager and curator of my ever-growing collection of nearly 2,000 original vintage Collins handbags, accessories and home decor items, plus archival materials including period advertising, catalogs, photos and other documents. I continue to study these works individually and in the rich context of the collection while uncovering more stories of these works, and their significant, if overlooked, designer, Enid Collins.

• American Alliance of Museums

• Association of Academic Museums and Galleries

• Catalogue Raisonne Scholars Association

• College Art Association