Magazines have been telling us for quite some time now that the “It” bag is dead. In a way, they’re right. But the hyped bags, the “sold out but I can put your name on a waiting list”, the “I saw this bag on the arm of (insert celebrity name here) and now I feel a desperate need to have it in my life” – these bags still exist. The whole process is just slightly more covert nowadays. It’s more word of mouth and subtle product placement than full out, big budget advertising blitz.
At the moment, two of the most popular examples of the non-It It bag come to us courtesy of Proenza Schouler and Alexander Wang. On one hand, or perhaps that should be over one shoulder, the PS1, a modernized take on the classic satchel in sumptuous colors and soft leather. On the other, Wang’s luxe punk studded coco duffle, a bag that asserts its non-It status by being both not yet out and sold out at the same time.
Carried by celebrities, lusted after by countless consumers, wait-listed and coveted, they prove that (to paraphrase the old saying) “The It bag is dead…long live the It bag”.
