Your primer on the latest news in fashion, from Hanan Besovic of @ideservecouture.
The status of It bag has been awarded only to a few select styles over the decades. Though designers present almost seasonally what they hope will become their next moneymaker, like the Lady Dior or Chloé Paddington, most styles enjoy a season or two of hype, only to fade once the next big thing comes along. In order to understand the making of an It bag, we have to take a quick trip into fashion history.
The Chanel 2.55—which debuted in February 1955, hence the name—was arguably the very first It bag. However, the time period most associated with It bags is the late ’90s and early 2000s, which gave us icons such as 1997’s Fendi Baguette, coined after the way the french would tuck a fresh loaf of the bread under their arm, and John Galliano’s Saddle Bag for Dior in Spring/Summer 2000. Having a coveted handbag proved the secret to financial success for brands.
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As the fashion cycle continued, it seemed there was a new It bag—or an attempt at one—every few seasons. During his time at Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs brilliantly collaborated with artists like Stephen Sprouse, Takashi Murakami, and Richard Prince, who used the brand’s classic bags as a canvas. The collaborations turned out to be an incredible success, and are still coveted on the resale market today. It seemed that the winning strategy was going the Hollywood route, where brands would gift bags to celebrities to be photographed by paparazzi, in the way that Chloé’s Paddington bag designed by Phoebe Philo in 2004 reached It bag status, or, the bag was featured on a TV show, like when Fendi’s baguette almost became the fifth member of the Sex and the City cast. And, speaking of the SATC, it’s impossible to forget another iconic It bag—the Hermès Birkin. With its Birkin and Kelly bags—named after Jane Birkin and Grace Kelly—Hermès created its own lane completely, launching the styles into the It bag stratosphere by introducing the ultimate enemy of the rich—a waitlist. Buying a bag directly from the brand requires more than just having the $12k-plus ready to drop, making it the ultimate status symbol. Birkin enthusiasts–many of whom view the bags as an investment, rarely removing them from their dust bags—also represent a shift in priorities where possessing an It bag is more important than using it.
Following the 2008 recession, the status of It bags took a hit as the culture shifted, and interest and spending on fashion decreased. After a while, one style managed to revive the It bag: Celine’s Luggage tote designed by Philo in 2010. The bag’s practicality made it popular, but its ubiquity can be owed to street style stars like the Olsen twins and burgeoning fashion bloggers. Still, since social media became a vital part of the fashion ecosystem, a true It bag is becoming more and more rare. There are a few reasons for this, but it’s mostly because fashion is simply too fast. Trends come and go at warp speed, with no time to appreciate a single bag long enough for it to become an It item. There are just too many bags on the market.
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We’ve recently seen three bags reach It bag status: Gucci’s Dionysus from 2015, Bottega Veneta’s Casette bag from pre-fall 2019, and Telfar’s Shopping bag, which was seen on the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Selena Gomez, and Beyoncé, who even name-checked it in her song “Summer Renaissance”.
But who decides what becomes an It bag? The brands? Celebrities? I would say the market, because people have all the buying power. A brand can place a bag on every possible celebrity or influencer, and have it featured in every show, but if the bag doesn’t resonate with the consumer, it’s all short-lived. In the instance of Celine’s Luggage Tote, customers loved the bag’s practicality and versatility above all. Currently, I can think of one bag that could reach It bag status, and it’s the Icare by Saint Laurent. We are still in the era of logos (a trend that is not coming to an end anytime soon, if you ask me) and having the iconic gold YSL logo displayed prominently on the bag makes it a status buy. But, other than that, no other bag currently enjoys the same popularity. That isn’t to say there aren’t beautiful bags out there, like Ferragamo’s shoulder bag with cut-out detailing or my favorite Fendi Sunshine Tote. One thing’s for certain, there will never be a shortage of bags available in the fashion industry, be they It bags or not.
