The Scottish Mail on Sunday - You
Just one careful lady owner...
In the pre-loved world, bags are doing big business
Any stigma about buying second-hand has gone, says Charlotte Staerck, co-founder of Handbag Clinic, a retail and repair business that has seen sales leap by 400 per cent in the past 18 months. ‘People are thinking more sustainably and have rewired their tastes from “must have now” to “will love for ever”.’ Lyst, the global fashion search platform, says that searches for second-hand pieces have increased 45 per cent since November, with handbags in the top three search categories. Searches for preowned classic Chanel double-flap bags have seen a 75 per cent increase over the past few months – perhaps driven by the fact Chanel does not sell bags through its own website and that bricks-and-mortar luxury stores have been shuttered during lockdown. To make sure you don’t get fooled by a fake, stick to reputable resale sites that guarantee the real deal. Try Handbag Clinic, Vestiaire Collective, Hardly Ever Worn It, Bagista and Farfetch. Auction site eBay has also got its eBay Authenticate service where items are inspected and verified by specialists to give the buyer piece of mind. However, if you can’t imagine committing to just one bag, try a designer rental site. MyWardrobeHQ has a well-curated selection where you can hire bags by the day (a Givenchy clutch, for example, is £21). And newcomer Cocoon is a handbag version of Netflix – allowing you to borrow bags for a £99 monthly subscription fee.
by luxury online bag sales platform Baghunter 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 –
of influencer culture, customers have become more cynical and when they see a celebrity toting her eponymous bag, they now know that money has changed hands.
There has also been a shift away from flashy, obvious status-symbol bags towards more discreet offerings, a move that was started by Phoebe Philo at Celine and has been continued by designers such as JW Anderson, Bottega Veneta’s Daniel
Lee and mid-market brands such as Danse Lente, Staud and Mansur Gavriel.
Which begs the question: what are the It-bags of today and the cult purchases of the future? What will be displayed at the V&A in 2050? That’s entirely up to you. Bottega Veneta’s BV Jodie was winning the game before lockdown – Matches, Net A Porter and Selfridges all reported being unable to keep up with demand. But at £2,465, it may remain a pipe dream for even more customers than usual.
And while nothing beats the feeling of unboxing a designer bag you’ve saved and saved for, love affairs don’t have to come with a four-figure price tag. Whether it’s a second-hand Vuitton bought for a bargain on a resale site, or a high-street find that has stood the test of time, what matters is that it brings you joy. Now, more than ever, perhaps the best definition of an It-bag isn’t what it costs or who else owns it, but how it makes you feel.
Bags: Inside Out will open at the V&A on 21 November (sponsored by Mulberry). Tickets go on sale in September. See vam.ac.uk for more information
beautiful well-made clothes and had created the perfect capsule wardrobe way before the fashion press started using the term.
She was very much of the generation where different outfits had specific bags to ‘go’ with them, so when we came to the poignant task of clearing her wardrobe I wasn’t surprised to see she had amassed a collection of more than 30 bags. What I was taken aback by, however, was the emotional effect their contents had on me. Each bag presented a time capsule of their last use, giving me another moment I could share with my mother. From the ‘all needs covered’ selection of necessities, including tissues, a nail file and headache pills, to treasures such as a cherished pair of diamond earrings we had long thought lost, safely hidden away in a lining pocket. An older bag retrieved from the depths of the wardrobe was the resting place for forgotten love letters in the scrawled hand of my father. Precious things kept somewhere she knew was safe, the heart of many a woman’s wardrobe – her handbag.