2007: The Death Of The Designer Handbag

2007 was another great year in fashion - it certainly had it's share of Landmarks, Spectacle and Tragedy.

Landmarks: 2007 marked big birthdays for venerable fashion houses and businesses alike; 100 years for Neiman Marcus and Henri Bendel, 60 years for Christian Dior, 45 years for Valentino, 40 years for Ralph Lauren.

Spectacle: Karl Lagerfeld for Fendi staged a first-ever fashion show along the Great Wall of China with the iconic double F images projected onto neighboring mountains, Pierre Cardin showed on sand dunes in the middle of the Gobi desert, and Marc Jacobs sent a 9pm runway show out at 11pm which sent everyone - editors and buyers alike into a dither.

Tragedy: Isabella Blow and Liz Claiborne passed away, and women of all ages embraced the girly ballerina as the shoe to be worn with absolutely everything for absolutely every occasion. Husband and wife David and Victoria Beckham were featured in a raunchy spread in W magazine (that one hopes their children don't see until they're old enough to handle the shock of mom and dad in compromising positions) to link with the smash launch of her new jean line here in the US.

The event which hasn't yet been widely covered (if at all) is the death of the designer handbag. I may be ahead of my time, but I am convinced that, though we won't see it played out until mid-2008, the year 2007 killed the handbag.

In his wonderful first book, Malcolm Gladwell coined the phrase "the tipping point" both as the title of his book, and as a descriptor for what happens when a product or idea goes viral. He did not describe the decline or fall of an idea and did not name it, so I'll give it a go here. If when something is ON it has 'tipped', maybe when it is OFF it has 'topped'...if so, the handbag, which went fully viral in mid-2007, the designer handbag, in all its manic oversized hardwareized, logoized splendor has 'topped' at the end of the year.

Handbags have been around since the dawn of time, or so it seems, but in recent years they have taken on mythic proportions in the minds and hearts of women and fashion houses alike. They served as an important driver of growth and profitability for fashion houses, and they were lauded as the best way to update your wardrobe, (actually I still believe good clothes and shoes are the best way to update your wardrobe) and so it went...every season, a new bag, new color, new hardware, new shapes...downright dizzying.

I work in Manhattan in a part of the downtown called the 'meatpacking district.' It sits in the lower west side of the city and is one of the coolest spots in town. I call it 'the land of the early adopters' for all the trend-setting people I see in the streets of this neighborhood. Lately I am seeing fewer and fewer designer handbags, and it's gotten to the point that when I do see a woman with a brick house of a bag on her arm it just jumps out at me as WRONG ... OVER .... I am still carrying my own brick house bag which only a few months ago was totally the rage, but every time I pick it up now I cringe. It's done. And it's not done in the way that, well, this bag is done, now I need a new one, bigger and better...no - it's just flat out done.

But it's not that simple really, what is a woman to do when she doesn't want to carry a bag anymore? Bags are not just frivolity, they're a necessity. We can't possibly stuff all of our belongings into our pant pockets as men do...there's just too much required of a woman during the course of her day...(not sure why...it certainly would be liberating to leave the house with a few bills and a credit card, a cell phone and the house key like my husband does) so what is the answer?

Since not carrying bag at all is NOT the answer, I think that what I want to carry now is something small, pared down and frankly totally nondescript. No logos - absolutely none, no hardware, nothing to identify it as belonging to any particular brand. I want a clutch big enough to hold my 5x8 moleskin notepad which goes everywhere with me, my wallet (which I will now downsize) and a small cosmetics bag (which is also getting downsized). I am imagining a large envelope with a top flap and leather ties to tie it up down the center. Simple. This can be in PVC in black or dark brown or in a soft deerskin.

On days when this is just too small because I'm going to the gym, or need a change of shoes, I think I want a type of manbag. Something like the tote that L.L. Bean made famous only in leather with handles only high enough to fit into the hand, not long straps to be slung over the shoulder. Again, no logos, extraneous hardware, etc. I can't look at another pumped up, tricked out bag in the face, and I certainly am not willing to pay tricked out prices for it either.

The moment is feeling pared down, conservative. Maybe it's because we're in an election year, our men and women are still overseas fighting a war, and we've got our own economic war we're now fighting in this country. It's also more than all of this - I don't think this is just about a moment in fashion. I think women are becoming less and less comfortable feeling dictated to - our confidence is rising. We don't need that bag on our shoulder, or the logo that accompanies it to help make us feel validated.

Comments

[truthiness]

A friend bought a knockoff of one of those clunky designer bags on the streets of midtown. Her gay friends call it her beard -- at first glance, they all think she's straight!

[workingboy]

once I saw Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis walking on Park Ave., 56th to 57th Sts. it was midday. she was wearing a sweater and slacks. later, thinking about it, something hit me as strange: she wasn't carrying a bag or a purse. but then, Jackie, it would be safe to say, needed no identification. If she wanted to make a purchase, I'm sure she could have charged it with no problem.

[impatient]

I have handbags and sometimes I use them. When I do use one, it's almost always a big slouchy hobo bag.

But really, what I prefer is a backpack. It frees up your hands, and usually has plenty of pockets. I can put folders of papers and books in there. I can also carry just about anything else I might need, including a change of clothes if I am gong to go running that day.

I never spend more than $30 on one either. One of the posters here made a less than $300 coach bag seem like a bargain! Are you people insane?

[Alto100]

Interesting article...as someone who doesn't dress in a flashy way and avoids large logos...I've had a ball for the past 8 years, watching the extroverts go apeshit. It's funny...but couldn't women TELL at the time of the start of the designer trend that it would end this way?! I'm a guy and I predicted it. Same thing with giant, oversized escalades and such...who didn't know that crap would "go out of style"?

Now when I see an article like this one, I think, "Good! I'm glad women are deciding to stop bowing down to the forces of fashion and media and men. I'm glad women are more confident!" BUT...there's also a part of me that knows that women are fickle and the "vehement" anti-designer trend that's inevitably brewing/occuring right now will just be met with an equally "vehement" pro-designer trend in less than 5 years.

Ask yourselves this, females...back in the late 90's whenyou were all crazy about Kate Spade's pared down, simplistic, no-logo style hand bags, what made you stop liking them? What made you rush to embrace the "new 80's" and the "new materialism" of the early 2000's?

I predict that within the year there will be at least a dozen new kate spade-like handbag companies selling what Kate Spade was selling back in 1999. And tons of women will rush to embrace the new "anti-logo" trend.

[cinemaven]

Finally, a fashion curve I'm ahead of.
I bought a box of vintage purses at an auction over 20 years ago ($12 for 8) and when I absolutely need a purse, I grab one of them but day to day, I'm bagless. I carry my credit and debit card, a tube of lip gloss and my phone and they all fit into a pocket.

I don't ever pay for a logo on clothing or accessories so designer anything doesn't work for me. I've never understood why I should or would pay more for an item that turns me into a walking billboard. They should pay me for that priviledge.

[marchissimo]

I am a little confused about all the points that Ms. Cividino is trying to make: is the designer label that she does not want? or the bag tout court? And if it is the bag that she rejects, why does it have to be designer? Wait, she does not want the big designer bag... so the big non-designer bag is ok? But the she wants the small bag (designer? non designer? made of plastic???) Yes, confusing...
There is a long paragraph on carrying all the things that man can put in their pockets... well, i am a man and by the time i have eveything i need for the day, i would certainly stretch irreparably the shape of my suit, if i were to put "everything i need" in my pocket. What do i need? Let's see: date book, blackberry, i-pod, a piece of fruit, checkbook, passport (you never know...), keys, coins, medications (it's New York after all!!).
Deep down inside I do agree on one thing: the country is in a crisis, the US Dollar is worth nothing and we all worry more about the mortgage payment than following the latest trends. Big news: all retailers (designers and not) had trouble this season, especially when we pay almost $4 for a gallon of gas (and you know that needs to be factored in the price of the goods we buy).
On the other end, I would not wish for the death of the designer bag as a part women's liberation... at the end of the day we (and I include myself since I love bags, male bags, totes, and still have all the ones i owned from Prada and Gucci to Jack Spade), we stride for beauty and enhancement. What I give Ms. Cividini credit for is the fact that people (women first) are more individualistic and are sourcing their accessories in different ways. True, the "label" does not define us, but how much better does it make us feel?

[ashabot]

.
NOT carrying a handbag is a very definite option for me. I often go without one. When I do carry a bag, it HAS to have a shoulder strap. I would not even consider using a bag I have to drape over my arm. To me, hanging a bag (of any size) off the forearm is a form of hobbling with echoes of all forms of female restraint. When I stop to notice women draped with a handbag, as I did yesterday, I think of suffering mules, foot binding and clitorectomy..

[JScott]

'We can't possibly stuff all of our belongings into our pant pockets as men do...there's just too much required of a woman during the course of her day...(not sure why...it certainly would be liberating to leave the house with a few bills and a credit card, a cell phone and the house key like my husband does) so what is the answer?'
But why not. Even as a male I've even pared down the contents of what usually is an overstuffed wallet-2 debit/credit cards, driver license and maybe $40 and keys that's it! Do females really need much more? Or is this a weakness exploited by the 'fashion industry'.

[zaneblue]

You want the old Coach bags. They still have them on their website, sequestered away from their "HANDBAGS!" like Coach is ashamed of them, stupidly. Under "Classic Favorites" in all their glove-tanned leather goodness. They wear like iron, are unobtrusive, and cost less than $300.

[booker52]

I am a woman, but I don't understand paying the big bucks for a damn purse. I don't understand a woman paying the high dollars for something that you put your junk in a carry around. I change mine out for the different seasons and I change it if I go out at night. But I still don't get spending thousands of dollars on a damn handbag. I think it's silly and just plain dumb!!! When it's worn out, I toss it out. I would hate to think that I spent alot of money for that!!!

[thehuff]

I am certain you know more about handbags than i ever will (or could hope to), but I don't think that we can even begin to think that we are approaching the "Death of the Designer Handbag" until the average woman can walk into an Hermes store and purchase a Birkin. When that happens then death is imminent.

[aristippe]

As long as there are women, the portable womb will always find a buyer.