Has anyone noticed how the turnover of It bags has speeded up in recent years? Gone are the days when our mother had a bag for over a year or even years. When her bag was worn until the leather broke in. It got spilled on, rained on, parts got replaced or repaired. It was her signature. It looked loved because it was and for many it was our first chance at playing grown up with her bag on our little shoulder.
Fast foward to 2016 and designer bags are launched every season. In some cases even faster. Fashion shows used to only focus on the model’s clothes, but slowly designers focused on what models were carrying and the fashion system got completely re-invented. Bags got produced at the same rate as the designer’s next fashion show or even quicker. Now we have less time to enjoy a bag, let alone grow with it. Our long term relationship was cut and got switched to a honeymoon phase only.
Chloe came out with the Drew. When it reached saturation point with around ten ( or twenty?) color variations to choose from, the Faye quickly followed. Instagrammed and street style shot everywhere, it was the new It Bag. Shortly after, the Hudson appeared. Other design houses have adopted the faster and more lucrative cycle including Fendi, Celine, Saint Laurent and Louis Vuitton, all churning out It Bags in shorter and shorter lead times.
The conveyor belt has shifted and now the Dionysus by Gucci has many teetering on the “should I?” cliff (myself included but I’ve resisted God damn it). Have luxury bags become a form of disposable fashion with a higher price tag? With the tighter turns of new Its, nobody is growing with their bags anymore because there’s another one right around the corner. The rise of the re-sale bag market is justified: Sell one to fund the next.
I get that design houses update their brands, and call me old fashioned, but I can’t help but wonder (as Carrie would write):
Wouldn’t it be nice to slow down the conveyor belt and let us enjoy the bag we just bought five minutes ago?