IThere was a time when women, without pockets in their clothes, stored their personal belongings as well as a few coins in a small fabric purse attached to their belt, slipped under their petticoats and accessible through slots hidden in the folds of the layered fabrics.
When bags came out of the shadows to be worn over skirts and jackets, in order to less distort the outfits that fashion had brought noticeably closer to the body, many cried foul, considering that this accessory was to be stored away. lingerie department. But we don’t show off our underwear. Finally Yes. In 2024, it is entirely possible. The unthinkable would now be to hide your handbag…
In the 20the century, the most illustrious have continued to attract attention, whether we notice them on Lady Di’s hand, on Bernadette Chirac’s knees or in the crook of Jane Birkin’s elbow. Structured, rigid in shape or cut from thick luxurious leathers, they all displayed an impeccable outfit. To break away from these fairly established ladies’ models, a whole generation in search of cool has rushed for lighter, more flexible, even soft bags (and less expensive, too).
Cool, chic and sexy
Without going back to the “babas” versions, in fabric, with the claimed indolence and very relative cleanliness, dear to the seventies, fashion ended up producing a fairly Parisian style, at once cool, chic and sexy, embodied in everything early 2000s by what we called the off-duty models. Namely the models in real life… This nonchalant style which nevertheless leaves nothing to chance has lasted for more than twenty years.
The prerogative of these girls with free hair and an “effortless” look was to carry bags in fine leather and soft as a baby’s bottom (Jérôme Dreyfuss), simple as pie and unlined (the tote two-tone by Phoebe Philo at Celine) or falsely neglected (the Classic First by Balenciaga, designed in 2000 by Nicolas Ghesquière, with its fringes, its studs and its slightly slouched look).
Today, this trend towards unstructured, easy-to-wear models says something about a desire to let the bags, like the pressure, subside. To contrast softness with ambient harshness. At Bottega Veneta, the artisans call it “the smile of the bag”, when, once placed, the accessory slowly relaxes, forming a fold that seems, in fact, to outline a smile.
