More about It Bags from The Guardian: Bags for people with bags more money than sense

[DuTTyRoCK112]

Perhaps I'm oversimplifying the power of the It bag, but I feel that the reason these bags were so astronomically popular was because of the allure of girls like Lindsay, Mischa and (mostly) Nicole Richie carrying them EVERYWHERE in 2003-2004 and being photographed heavily. Those girls have all went their separate ways, and the next breed of style "icons" for the conspicuous-consumption crowd has yet to really surface or at least make a bold enough impression on the general public. There doesn't really seem to be a particular celebrity at the moment who is on everyone's "style watch".

[pucci_mama]

^ You might be right there.

Also, in my opinion people have come to realise that exclusivity and "It-bags" are the polar opposites, when you pay that much for a bag you want to be the only one with it..feel special... you'll never get that with an it bag.

However much designer are trying to push that and the prices up, I also believe that it will be a decrease in high end spending this year as the economy is not looking too strong, people are not willing to spend $$$ on frivolous items in unsure times.

[awwwwfuq]

i'll always love designer bags regardless if they're in or not. anyways, i never saw this on the guardian, is this for real?

[LibertyRose]

I think it is way too early to pronounce 'It Bags' dead. It is just hybernating. To some followers of fashion, the desire to own something that is instantly recognizable (by people in-the-know at least) and collectively coveted will always be there, and for this reason alone, 'It Bags' will always have its place in the cycles of fashion, much like blonde Eastern European models will never go out of style. The intensity of their popularity may wax and wane, but I would not count on a complete demise.

For the record, I'd count Miu Miu's Coffer as an It Bag, though it didn't cause a buying frenzy on the scale of Paddington and Spy.

A number of things I think can explain the relative quiteness of the bag scene as of late:

- The new designs don't measure up to their predecessors either in terms of attractiveness or utility. YSL followed up the Muse with the bottomless Downtown, and odds were against Fendi when they rolled out the Palazzo [sp] after the Spy. Are round bags ever popular? As much as the birth of It Bags has to do with hype and marketing, consumers are getting smarter. I am sure some are averse to the idea of spending thousands on a bag that only makes the owner's life difficult.

- The status of It Bags is downgraded when labels put out different mutations of the same bag, season after season. I'd make a very colorful exception for Balenciaga, but every house, including Chloe, that's tried to replicate the success of its It Bags has not seen that strategy pay off. Fashion is a different beast from, say, soft drinks, that's for sure. Coke and Pepsi can add different flavors to their signature drinks to keep the consumers interested (and even that hasn't always worked for them), but somehow when you change the shape of the bag from east-to-west to messenger and add a lock on top and call it a day, it just doesn't fly. At designer price point, people demand some originality, and rightfully so. Don't get me wrong--I am sure there are happy takers of a Paddington messenger, but in terms of sales it hasn't taken off. Excuse the lack of a fun word, but cannibalization has a pretty dreary effect on fashion. With the ever-changing shapes of the same design, it's got to be difficult to determine which versions are authentic and which are not.

- Derivative designs aren't just a problem within particularly labels but across the industry. When Prada did ruched leather, Valentino followed.

- We are ultimately creatures of habit and the competitive need to own a new bag every season wears thin, especially when new bags (reason #1) or new versions (reason #2) don't look half has good. When celebrities who typically get the bags for free haven't felt compelled to overhaul their bag wardrobe every season, you know market saturation is higher than you think. I don't recall seeing the same bag making multiple appearances on recognizeable actresses (read: women who actually have a bit of a clout, so reality show stars and the cast of High School Musicals are excluded) much last year at all. I remember Kate Bosworth with a Marc Jacobs art deco bag and that's it.

- The rise of the mid-price range bags is not to be underestimated. Kooba, Botkier, Be & D have a youthful flair and are now sold in upscale department stores, which provides direct competition to pricer labels. And let's not forget that the most 'popular' bag in 2007 was probably Anya Hindmarch's "I'm Not A Plastic Bag" which makes a statement without being expensive.

- Last year, something else was stealing bags' thunder: the clutch. Oh, and Christian Louboutin.

[awwwwfuq]

i feel like houses should focus more on marketing and creating classic bags a la chanel 2.55 and hermes birkin rather than creating a new it bag every season.

[pucci_mama]

Originally Posted by awwwwfuq

i feel like houses should focus more on marketing and creating classic bags a la chanel 2.55 and hermes birkin rather than creating a new it bag every season.

I totally agree.

[jun3machina]

Originally Posted by Luna

Agreed.

I feel we are entering (Or in my opinion, have already been in) an era of Indie labels.

Notice that you are saying more and more "indie" labels being picked up by chain stores (bloomies, neimans, etc)... People are after unique bags, not the bag that you see on everyone's shoulder.

i totally agree with this!

[emma peel]

clutches! so true-- i have been buying them lately, some expensive (vbh) and a few on ebay or from banana republic...

[Kimkhuu]

Very interesting article thanks for posting. And I cringed when I read the part about people going on debt to buy it bags... That's like really bad, goes on to show the power of IT bags. Though many of us on tFS have a thing for indie designers doing unique bags, I just look around myself and most people I know don't care for the designs, they just want the latest cool item, the logo the brand is what dictates their tastes.

Which I consider is a normal thing when luxury brands whore out millions of dollars in marketing and donning them to IT girls... I must also admit that bags that become big aren't that creative (think LV or the Chloe bag that made the cut), it was the whole package, the luxury of wearing some **** some big shoes in the fashion industry was seen with.

What's even sadder is when people go broke for this entire joke.