My bag’s always getting chatted up. For me, it was love at first sight
“You got a pizza in there?” “No.” “What about a record?”
It’s been a while since I stood at a bar to order a drink, but now it’s on the horizon I guarantee I’ll have this conversation again. It’s what happens every time I take my Sezane “Nicole” bag to the pub. She always gets chatted up.
It was love at first sight for me too. A round disc of buttery maroon leather suspended by an elegant thin strap, this bag was unlike any I’d seen before. I knew instantly I had to have it.
I have always loved bags – as a child I’d cart all my earthly possessions around in a tangle of them, earning me the family nickname Bag Lady – and can recall each phase of my life by what was dangling from my shoulder at that time.
In my early 20s I was desperate for a Mulberry “Alexa” but my bank balance had other ideas, so instead I carried around a beat-up Armani satchel of a similar ilk bought for £15 at Glasgow vintage institution Mr Ben’s. Then there was the white leather backpack, the Kermit green box clutch, the suede-fringed duffel bag and the Italian leather tote.
Most of them were high street and charity shop finds, and it wasn’t until I was in my 30s that I had anything close to an investment bag. An investment for me is a couple of hundred pounds (my Nicole was £260); I’ll likely never be able to justify spending a few grand.
But that’s more than enough to buy something high quality that’ll stand the test of time. Increasingly, that’s what I care about now – which is either a sign of my age or the times we are living in or possibly both.
I think more of us will turn our backs on disposable fashion post-pandemic in favour of items we can cherish for many years to come. And the best thing about a bag is that it cannot be outgrown, and will fit regardless of what dress size you are. Maybe I’ll start smuggling some pizzas in mine after all.