Big yourself up this spring with the new supersize tote
Full disclosure: I can take or leave handbags and for quite a while — nearly a decade — I haven’t owned an everyday bag.
I used to have one, back when a bag was a notable part of your look and more important than your shoes. Then I got a bicycle. I got my bag stolen out of the bicycle basket by a pillion rider on a scooter. I got a frozen shoulder. Then another frozen shoulder. I was a stepmother, eating in nandos and standing on the touchline and, in between running in the rain with two hands full of Tesco shopping or cycling to and from work, the very last thing I needed was a handbag.
What I needed was a backpack, a utilitarian zip-and-go rucksack, so I got a Herschel (the leather fashion ones I found too fancy, not to mention, heavy) and never looked back.
The only bag you’ll ever need, in my opinion (unless you’re going to a wedding or a fancy party, in which case it’s the Marni with studs from many moons ago), is a backpack.
Room for everything, handsfree, waterproof, doubles as a cushion on a train, feels like it’s on your side as opposed to a bit too good for you and your life.
Every now and then I’ll see a bag and think: ‘ Ooh that is nice,’ or even: ‘ Hmm, that could make last year’s jeans/ midi- dress look a bit Celine 2020,’ but within seconds I’ve pulled myself together and remembered that, bottom line, if you wish to carry a lot of stuff around with you, you are not in the market for a sleek leather purse on a chain.
SOHONESTLY I thought my bag days were over. And then along came this Spring’s haul of bags that make the Herschel look positively cramped and studenty.
They’re big. Oh yes. The biggest — as in the most popular style of the moment, and the largest and happily the most practical — is the Xl tote.
If this tote comes with short straps, it is grazing the top of your thigh, if it comes with long straps, it’s banging about somewhere just north of your knees. There’s nothing to know about this bag other than size matters and that is what it will be judged on.
Fashion bloggers are much taken with louis Vuitton’s shearling monogrammed tote (£3,250), which is about the size of a child’s suitcase, just to give you a sense of what we’re talking about.
Suitcase- shaped, deep and bucket- shaped, or soft and rounded — whichever you choose, it should be 25 per cent bigger than a tote needs to be, minimum.
Cos does a narrow, deep tote (£150, cosstores.com), Mango has a giant, plain leather tote (£ 59.99) and Zara does a slouchy, soft tote (£89.99, zara.
com), and all of them are in solid black.
So that’s the black covered for those who feel they don’t want to have a bag in any other colour.
Still, because of the scale of these bags, and the season, it might pay to try to avoid black for once.
Topshop’s Taylor slouchy tote (£20, topshop.com) does look good in black, but it comes in a cherry red, too — and at that price you might consider both.
Veering off message a bit, Karen Millen has a deep bucket bag in stripey blue suede (£225,
karenmillen.com) — hard to mix in with your wardrobe mind you — and Zara does a knotted-handle bucket bag in a good putty colour, which comes with a longer strap if you want to wear it low rather than tucked under your arm (£19.99, zara.com).
With a big bag, you want something going on to break up the solid mass. A woven texture, or shine and/ or a knotted handle will do that, as will quilting or print, like Mango’s printed maxi bag, reminiscent of vintage Gucci (£59.99, mango.com). You’d only just manage to tuck this under your arm, but worth a try.
On that topic, don’t overload your giant bag, then sling it over a shoulder and give yourself a back problem.
Either travel light, wear it cross-body, or stick to the rucksack on busy days. That’s what I’ll be doing.