Are the new designer mini BAGS just a giant con?
tO aNyONe with a passion for fashion, the desirability of a designer handbag is matched only by their astronomic price tags.
but while I have often longed to emulate the a- l i sters and own a Mulberry lily or a Stella McCartney Falabella, financially the ‘It’ bags of this world have been out of my league — until now.
For there’s an intriguing price — and size — adjustment sweeping across the luxury handbag market at the moment that i s set to f i nally bring some of t hese iconic designs within reach of us ordinary fashionistas.
Call it downsizing — or clever marketing — but what we’re all talking about are mini versions of some of the most sought-after designer handbags.
these ti ny totes, shrunken satchels and micro messenger bags look just like the originals. the only difference is that they are smaller and, often, far cheaper.
Mulberry has just joined the fray with a dinky version of the lily evening bag, priced at £350 compared with £695 for the larger original, and there are already mini-me versions of several classics from Chanel and Celine.
Meanwhile, at Michael Kors, one of the brand’s most popular bags, a £315 satchel known as the Selma, now has a cheeky little sister, priced at just £140.
this new breed of shrinky dink It bag is still far more expensive than your average High Street alternative and, indeed, cynics argue it’s simply another way of convincing us to spend money on designer labels.
but there’s no disputing that the size, and price, adjustment is intriguing. So, why are mini bags the new big thing?
‘On one level, what we are seeing here is a reaction to the giant bags many women were carrying around only a few seasons ago,’ says Sandra Halliday, editor-in-chief of trend forecaster Stylus Fashion.
‘For the fashion pack, mini bags have an aura of newness. they’re more understated.’
but tHe lower price point i s also about opening up the desi g ner handbag market again to a more aspirational shopper, who may have felt priced out of the luxury bag market in recent years. It’s a cunning strategy that’s as much about brand survival as it is about reinventing the wheel.
‘Designer bags reached a very high price point in the Noughties,’ says Halliday. ‘after the recession, a lot of people thought prices would come down but, in fact, they went in the opposite direction as brands went after the ultra-luxury customer who didn’t have to worry about cutting back.’
However, in the past year, this section of the market has slowed. estimates suggest that sales of personal luxury goods, such as handbags and jewellery, grew just two per cent in 2014, compared with a more healthy nine per cent from 2009 to 2013.
Customers from China and particularly russia who previously fuelled demand for these top-end designer goods have also been feeling the pinch, forcing the fashion houses to refocus some of their energy into more affordable items.
Industry insiders say this is the drive behind what has been dubbed the new ‘ 300 Club’ — a sales ploy by designer brands to lure the ‘aspirational’ mid-market shopper with products that are priced in the 300s, rather than the thousands. this new price tag, while still expensive, is deemed to be ‘affordable luxury’.
Hence the mini bag with i t’s knock- down size and price tag. but could there be another reason why t hese miniature bags are proving popular? Have we s i mply al l had enough of carrying around a comfort blanket of ‘stuff ’?
trend analysts say there has been a shift recently t o war d s women carrying two different bags.
One is a bigger, more functional type of bag for transporting the bulky things in life — a change of shoes, a bottle of water, gym kit — which can stay hidden under the desk at work.
the second is a much smaller bag containing just the essentials — a phone, keys, train pass, credit cards and cash. this one becomes the statement bag that can be paraded at lunch or after work.
Certainly, if nothing else, owning one of these ‘borrower bags’ (named after the tiny people in Mary Norton’s book) would mean I would have to be more organised, rather than carrying everything I own around just in case I need it — a point eloquently made by Halliday.
‘you are forcing yourself to be edited,’ she says. ‘you are downsizing the contents of your life.’
and, in many ways, our lives are being downsized and transformed by developments in technology. Where we once might have lugged around a phone, Filofax, novel, camera and iPod, today, smartphones do it all. Conveniently, many of t hese smaller bags have super-long straps, which allow them to be worn across the body, leaving us hands- f ree to text, browse and take photos, unencumbered by a bulky handbag. the trend is already filtering down to the High Street with shops such as Zara offering little and large versions of the same style. (Mock croc City bag, £49.99, Croc mini, £29.99).
and, as well as forcing you to be more organised and not breaking the bank, the added bonus is that they won’t break your back or strain your shoulders and neck. Injuries such as this, dubbed ‘Poshitis’ after super-sized tote fan Victoria beckham, can be caused by hooking an overloaded bag in to the crook of one’s arm.
Doctors warn that carrying a bag that weighs more than 5lb can strain the body. One survey published in 2010 found that some women’s bags tipped the scales at 23 lb — the equivalent of carrying a toddler around with them.
Having spent the past ten years loaded down with everything but the kitchen sink, I, for one, am embracing the tiny bag revolution, albeit at a more affordable level (OK, I’m tempted, but £300 is still a big splurge in my book).
On a recent trip away with a friend, I snapped up a mini longchamp shopper in duty-free for £36, the cheapest in the range by far (the most expensive coming in at £68). It’s only big enough for my purse, phone and a few key items of make up, but I’ve been carrying it around ever since.
Downsizing my day-to-day handbag has forced me to get rid of old products, clear out dog- eared receipts, broken toys and various other bits of work or motherhood debris that I was carrying around.
an inexpensive designer bag that’s made me healthier and more organised — genuinely the stuff that dreams are made of.