Why Has the It-Handbag Made a Disappearance?

[Supergrofatty]

I live and work in the center of Paris where i travel by foot, looking at fashion trends as they appear, and leave.
One of my remarks, globally since the COVID confinement, is that are not really any more "hit bags" around.
Why is this ?
Big fashion brands seem to have contributed to kill the phenomenon by getting these incredible prices for their bags.
Is it that people buy a big brand bag as a financial placement ?

 

[Lola701]

I think you slightly answered your own question but I’m not sure if Paris as a city, is a barometer of fashion with a capital F anymore.

Prices are way too insane, trends are less organic because pushed by IG influencers and people would rather buy « Valeurs sûres » rather than gamble on a « It bag » that will be discontinued in 2/3 years.

When I’m in Paris, I see some bags. The APC bag by Charlotte Chesnais is one. I think about the COS bubble bag too and I think the Jacquemus one is still there.

But maybe, there’s less splurge on luxury. I must admit that Paris is not a very safe city and unlike before, people are more than informed regarding fashion.
When I’m in Paris, my approach to fashion and bags is totally different. I will carry my Pierre Hardy Alpha, my Jennifer by Tom Ford or my 2.55 by Chanel or a Loewe bag. I think the most obvious display of logo I can probably show is with the Vuitton Hobo loop but that’s it. The last thing you wants to be is a target, precisely because Paris is a city where walking is part of a lifestyle.

I’m much more free when I’m in Switzerland or even in Province or simply abroad.

I can get a sense of It bags in airports or when I’m abroad.

Is buying a bag from a big brand a financial placement though? Unless if you are buying a Birkin, Kelly, Constance, Chanel classic, I don’t know.
Most of my Dior bags are from the RAF era. They all have pretty much lost in value anyway. But I still love them.

I feel like people are kind of embarrassed by their frivolity and trying to justify the irrationality of their purchase by the financial placement thing.

 

[tigerrouge]

Even when a bag becomes momentarily popular, it can be more about a collector mentality than it is about using and wearing them.

We've had several years of people on social media, sitting in front of their shelves, stacked full of recent purchases, talking about "investment pieces" while doing their latest unboxing - that's been many people's experience of the designer bag.

The pattern that's been established is forming an identity through static purchases that may never see the light of day, after the content has been created.

There's little space in that picture for the idea of you going out there, living a full life, with your bag just along for the ride. You might damage your "investment".

I'll not even speak about prices.

 

[GoldenPetals]

I think one good thing to come out of 'fast fashion' is how it's democratized fashion overall. Whereas before the industry used to dictate which bag was "it" out of a finite range of designers, the options are basically endless. There are infinite candidates for an "It" bag, making the concept redundant.

 

[philophile]

I am so glad this is the case. Seriously, to spend several thousand dollars on a bag every season or even year or couple of years is not only batsh*t crazy, but it is a criminal waste of resources.
I fell into the Proenza Schouler PS11 hype at the start of last decade and also got a J.W. Anderson 'It' bag, a YSL one (Slimane design and logoless, of course), and 2 Chloés. I would wear none of them now and didn't wear them anymore after a while, hence, they are all sold. Since then, I swore I would never buy an 'It' bag again and haven't ever since/don't plan to.

I'd rather stick to bags with timeless designs and great craftsmanship from small independent labels such as Boyy or Little Liffner. Since I got them years ago, this is all I wear and don't plan to get any other new bag.

 

[yslforever]

I think you slightly answered your own question but I’m not sure if Paris as a city, is a barometer of fashion with a capital F anymore.

Prices are way too insane, trends are less organic because pushed by IG influencers and people would rather buy « Valeurs sûres » rather than gamble on a « It bag » that will be discontinued in 2/3 years.

When I’m in Paris, I see some bags. The APC bag by Charlotte Chesnais is one. I think about the COS bubble bag too and I think the Jacquemus one is still there.

But maybe, there’s less splurge on luxury. I must admit that Paris is not a very safe city and unlike before, people are more than informed regarding fashion.
When I’m in Paris, my approach to fashion and bags is totally different. I will carry my Pierre Hardy Alpha, my Jennifer by Tom Ford or my 2.55 by Chanel or a Loewe bag. I think the most obvious display of logo I can probably show is with the Vuitton Hobo loop but that’s it. The last thing you wants to be is a target, precisely because Paris is a city where walking is part of a lifestyle.

I’m much more free when I’m in Switzerland or even in Province or simply abroad.

I can get a sense of It bags in airports or when I’m abroad.

Is buying a bag from a big brand a financial placement though? Unless if you are buying a Birkin, Kelly, Constance, Chanel classic, I don’t know.
Most of my Dior bags are from the RAF era. They all have pretty much lost in value anyway. But I still love them.

I feel like people are kind of embarrassed by their frivolity and trying to justify the irrationality of their purchase by the financial placement thing.

You think Paris is not safe ? I have never experienced or heard stories about bags being snatched, it's mostly Richard Mille sick from drunk tourists at dawn...
I think people in Paris try to not look too frivolous, they avoid total-looks, huge jewelries and immediate It bags...

 

[Lola701]

You think Paris is not safe ? I have never experienced or heard stories about bags being snatched, it's mostly Richard Mille sick from drunk tourists at dawn...
I think people in Paris try to not look too frivolous, they avoid total-looks, huge jewelries and immediate It bags...

I have a lot of friends, usually foreigners who don’t feel safe in Paris. I grew up and lived in Paris for a long time so, I can live normally there. But yes, my approach to bags has changed as when I’m in Paris I move around different arrondissements. So trotting around with my Chanel classic that is sold for 10k makes me kind of uncomfortable when I’m totally at ease with it in Provence, in London, Geneva or even Abidjan and Dakar.

Yes, there’s a very detached, almost blase kind of attitude to things like that in Paris. That’s why the idea of an it bag…

 

[Supergrofatty]

I feel that a lot of what is said above is relevant, however how is it that the Hit bag phenomenon has totally disappeared ?
Again, is it that we do not wish to pay a huge price for a bag that we will not carry for more than a season or two, and have difficulties to resell.
The second hand market appears to have an increasing impact.
One of the consequences is to take the time to find bags that are made with great craftsmanship and sold at a reasonable price.
I don' know Boyy or Little Liffner, but found on the place du Marché St Honoré a maison called Delage that comes from the Roaring Twenties, a pure design, great quality at a good price.

 

[Lola701]

I feel that a lot of what is said above is relevant, however how is it that the Hit bag phenomenon has totally disappeared ?
Again, is it that we do not wish to pay a huge price for a bag that we will not carry for more than a season or two, and have difficulties to resell.
The second hand market appears to have an increasing impact.
One of the consequences is to take the time to find bags that are made with great craftsmanship and sold at a reasonable price.
I don' know Boyy or Little Liffner, but found on the place du Marché St Honoré a maison called Delage that comes from the Roaring Twenties, a pure design, great quality at a good price.

Maybe if we want to go in Depth, the problem has less to do with the bags than the media eco-system that managed to turn a bag into a IT bag.
In reality, we have quite a diverse market in terms of bags offering. JWA has nice bags at a decent price. There are brands like Toteme and Polene that have a momentum at a decent price.

What made a bag an It bag? A nice design from a fairly hot or respected brand. The association of the bag with stylish people and something genuine in the way those bags were displayed/consumed. Fendi and Balenciaga may have offered the Baguette and the Lariat to editors and models, the bags were good and hot enough for those people to carry the bags a lot and get photographed with it. We have a dozens of candids of those stylish women with their bags that later became IT! When Chanel launched the Cambon line or YSL launched the Mombasa and the Downtown, it was the same techniques.

The influence of those stylish women: Kate Moss, the Olsen twins, Nicole Ritchie and others created a snowball effects and others celebrities bought the bags.

There wasn’t such a thing as a resell value back then.
And today bags that have the potential to be IT are quite accessible to the mass even though there’s a frenzy about luxury rather than style.

The circuits today are less genuine. People know that those celebrities are paid and now, they have influencers doing unboxings every other day of new « hot » bags when we all know that those influencers only carried Birkin, Kelly and Chanel classics.

It’s no wonder in a way that brands like Polene or Toteme have created a sort of similar success comparable to It bags. Word of mouth, social media and not influence generated their success. The consumer is now at the root of a success of a bag (and maybe some fashion insiders).

What is interesting in the conversations regarding bags now is that, design appreciation and practicality doesn’t seem like a factor anymore.
Because while the price of the most esteemed brands bags are insane for the most part, the bags that will become classics and who starts as IT bags have generally a decent price.

Maybe another reason for the disappearance is that we are too solicited today as consumers. There are many brands, many images, many collections and drops so a consumer can easily feel lost. Because the compilation of images of celebrities wearing a bag, creating a trend and therefore pushing an IT item, where carefully chosen by a team of editors to create a meaningful content and generate desire.

 

[tigerrouge]

And the channels of communication are much more fragmented these days - it's no longer a landscape controlled by a few types of media, where one message can dominate, and a small range of select products are at the forefront of everyone's awareness.

There still are It Bags - within social tribes. If you were to analyse youtube, you'd see patterns of certain bags being pushed / popularised, if you were to look at instagram, you'd get a slightly different picture again - and so on. If you were to visit five different cities in the US or Europe or elswhere, you'd see different bags being worn, and you could break down that picture even further, by seeing what people are using in the business districts as opposed to the nightlife circuit.

There's also the opposite phenomenon to the It bag - the desire to own something that few people know about, from a company that's relatively "hidden" and where the products are still of good quality for a decent price. As soon as the content creators discover these smaller brands, the demand increases, the company tries to keep up, the quality drops and the prices soar - and it ceases to be a "best-kept secret" and some customers move on. Success can be a blessing - and a curse.

 

[blueorchid]

I think the focus on re-sale value of bags is so fascinating. One of my guilty pleasures is checking the Chanel subreddit and seeing people freak out about whether their bag is an investment, should they return the bag they just bought for one with better resale value, etc. Of course, when people are spending their savings on a $10K bag, it makes a bit of sense to fret or have buyer's remorse, but at the same time I just think... it's a f*cking purse not a house.

 

[tigerrouge]

The greatest luxury of all is being able to buy the bag you desire - and to use it without ever having to think about supposed "resale values".

Because it's a bag - at its most basic, it's a receptacle for stuff, at its most sophisticated, it's a shorthand for your fantasy self.

The investment is an emotional one, but people don't tend to go deep about their spending habits, they dance around things, wanting to convince themselves that bags can be a vehicle for financial investment.

Sure, some canny people can turn a profit, but they often have little true attachment to what they're buying and selling, and who could easily move on to the next thing.

 

[blueorchid]

The greatest luxury of all is being able to buy the bag you desire - and to use it without ever having to think about supposed "resale values".

Exactly. I got over my preciousness when it came to bags when I had a designer bag (which will remain nameless lol) fly off the passenger seat of my car onto the floor when I had to suddenly stop a few days after I bought it. Oops.

Personally, I'm also a bit of a packrat so I care a lot more about the design inside of a bag than the average person.

 

[kasper!]

The new fashion statement item is sneaker, no more bags. Every brand has sneaker prodcuct.

 

[zoom]

Turns out most could never afford the it bag in the first place and were going into heavy credit card debt trying. And the few that currently can def don't generate the billion dollar profits that are expected by corporate. So now we have 1k trainers. Yay.

 

[kasper!]

Yes but the competition is the most fierce ever....people can choose between $200 Nike or $450 niche brand or $1000 luxury brand.

 

[LadyJunon]

I think that the last It bag we really had was Jacquemus' Chiquito, which was 5 years ago.

The rise of the "It sneaker" is definitely a consequence of the merging of luxury and streetwear. That said, that strategy has become increasingly masculine-focused since the pandemic, while feminine market have divested its focus to other shoe styles.

I think that we'll get another It bag, but it will probably come as part of a lifestyle by-proxy of a "cool brand" like Jacquemus' Chiquito rather than an isolated "cool product".

We could've had that with Ferragamo's "Wanda" if they had actually fully committed to the brand revamp. Mugler's "Curve" or Courrèges' "Holy" could be worthy contenders if the brands around them are positioned correctly.

 

[philophile]

I think that the last It bag we really had was Jacquemus' Chiquito, which was 5 years ago.

True! That was the last 'It' bag indeed. Haha I forgot about it, I was obsessed once I saw it and got it immediately. It's so adorable, but obviously incredibly impractical. Got rid of that too.

IMO, I think the next 'It' bags are going a couple of those Jil Sander bags released in recent years. The brand has been having a big momentum in the shoe and accessory department in the past year. These bags are timeless and razor-sharp precise in terms of minimalist design with a vintage feel to them. I think anything with a vintage inspired design has staying potential. The proof of this are the old Céline box bag and clasp bag.

In a different note, I have always failed to understand the appeal for Chanel bags as they are so devastatingly ugly and the last thing they are is modern. The quilted details remind me of cheap and tacky space age 70's furniture. I also do not like the Hermès Kelly at all. Granted, it has a timeless design and it's definitely not an ugly bag, but I prefer others with superior and much more interesting design (probably not quality, I'll admit) and a far better price point. At this point, the fact that so many nouveau riche or old money people have made it a status symbol just seems ironically tacky and in bad taste. It's like flexing money on your face, yuck.

 

[Supergrofatty]

Following these answers i was making a comparaison with the way the art market has evolved these last 20 or so years.
Artists that appear and are "successful" are fundamentally, and nearly always, prompted by a financial approach.
The creation as such, is weak and must appeal to a mass of people the largest possible, then it takes high financial investments to get the artist a maximum exposure
in the top end places where artist "must" be.
But who gets a real emotion when visiting contemporary art exhibitions ?
Better off will one be to go to museums.

 

[Creative]

You think there are not it bags anymore?

The Andiamo last summer, the Cassette, the garbage bag by Chanel, the YSL big one, the Chiquito... I do think there are still "it bags". The re-launch of the Saddle bag, the 30Montaigne...

I also think that some rich people carry just Hermès bags because it is a status symbol. Without the Hermès they feel poor I think.