Downsizing the trend in bags

FIVE years ago a woman needed a gym membership, a chiropractor on speed-dial and plenty of attitude to lug around the it bag of the day. Enormous, ostentatious and outrageously expensive, it bags, including the Givenchy Nightingale, the Balenciaga Giant and the Chloe Paddington, were one of the biggest fashion phenomena of the early 2000s. But post-recession, the flashy monograms and in-your-face styles have gone, replaced by a more discreet species of clutches and totes that is driving the recovery of the handbag market. When sales of handbags in the US alone fell 3.3 per cent to $6.97 billion last year, according to market researcher NPD Group, fashion brands across the world began working overtime to transform their designer dinosaurs into smaller classic investment pieces that would appeal to the more judicious consumer. Stripped of gilt and logos, and in more functional shapes such as the messenger, the satchel and the pochette, the latest offerings from Celine, Chloe, Mulberry and Prada offer a timeless and more practical alternative to giant and garish one-season trends. "I think people want to feel as though they are buying not this throw-away thing," says Mulberry creative director Emma Hill who since joining the British luxury company has already produced the fashion industry's first post-recession handbag hit, the Alexa. Named after British television presenter Alexa Chung, the Alexa has helped increase Mulberry's sales by almost 30 per cent since June last year from pound stg. 58.6 million to pound stg. 72.1m ($116.8m). The streamlined man-style leather satchel sells for pound stg. 795 on Mulberry's website, with a smaller clutch bag version priced at pound stg. 450. "The Alexa you could be wearing next year, you could be wearing it in 40 years," Hill says. "It's not so tied to one season and it's not a one-hit wonder. We have had incredible success with bags like the Alexa."