‘AN IT-BAG IS THE COMBINATION OF THE RIGHT BAG, ON THE RIGHT ARM, AT THE RIGHT MOMENT’
in 2017, found that these status symbols had increased in value by 14.2 per cent each year (by comparison, gold and stocks provided average returns of only 1.9 per cent and
8.65 per cent).
Hermès’s most popular bags are the
Birkin and Kelly, named respectively after Jane Birkin and Grace Kelly. While some bags have waiting lists, the fashion house doesn’t even offer those: its most valued (read: high-spending) customers are able to purchase a Birkin by invitation only. Hermès carefully limits the production of these bags – only a few thousand are made every year – so that demand constantly outstrips supply, ensuring exclusivity.
Little wonder their value has increased by 500 per cent in the past 35 years, or that the most expensive handbag ever sold was a white Himalaya crocodile and diamond Birkin, auctioned by Christie’s in 2017 for €325,000.
But price tag alone doesn’t make an ‘It-bag’. If I had to reduce this to a formula, it would probably be a combination of the right bag, on the right arm, at the right moment. Grace Kelly clutching her Kelly in front of her stomach in 1956 – reportedly to hide her growing pregnancy – is undoubtedly one. As is Jacqueline Kennedy who was always seen out using her Gucci Jackie in the 60s. Then, in the 90s, Princess Diana’s fondness for the Lady Dior conferred an It-bag status that it enjoys even now.
While design, exclusivity and celebrity endorsement undoubtedly play their part, when it comes to achieving true cult status, years of bag-watching has led me to conclude that there is also something far more indefinable at play. While the winning formula of Fendi’s Baguette is easy to understand (tucked under the arm like a bread stick, its distinctive hardware and mainstream popularity, courtesy of Carrie Bradshaw in
Sex And The City, made it a blockbuster), few could have predicted that an unassuming black rucksack emblazoned with a single triangle logo – simply titled ‘nylon backpack’, and priced at €1,040 – would have been such a huge hit for Prada.
In the quest to create a cult bag, it never hurts to name it after a celebrity. Katie Hillier, then creative director of Mulberry, revived the idea when she collaborated on a style with her friend, the designer Luella Bartley. Named