It Bag
It Bag is a colloquial term from the fashion industry used in the 1990s and 2000s to describe a brand or type of high-priced designer handbag by makers such as Hermès or Fendi that becomes a popular best-seller.
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[edit] History
One of the first designers credited with creating the concept of the easily identifiable "status bag" was Giuliana Camerino, founder in 1945 of the Venetian fashion house Roberta di Camerino.[1] Camerino's handbags were instantly recognisable due to their artisan-made hardware and distinctive use of fabrics formerly reserved for clothing. Her innovations included in 1946, bags patterned with a trellis of R's (foreshadowing Gucci's G's), woven leather bags in 1957 (predating Bottega Veneta) and in 1964, she designed a handbag with a unique articulated frame which was later taken up by Prada.[1]
The term "It Bag" to describe an easily recognisable status bag was coined in the 1990s with the explosive growth of the handbag market in fashion. Designers vied to produce one bag that would sell hundreds of thousands of units by becoming the bag "of the moment" -- a single handbag style that would spread like wildfire in popularity through the intertwined worlds of fashion and celebrity, aided by clever or just plain lucky marketing. Another way to define them is to say what other bags are not: "They are most definitely not it bags in the sense that they become isn't bags the next season." (Poppy Harlow)
As consumers have become more demanding, and in the face of structural changes in the handbag market, the "It Bag" is declining in popularity.[2] More and more fashion companies are diversifying their offers, and no longer does one style blaze through a season.
[edit] Examples
- Hermès Birkin, named after actress Jane Birkin
- Hermès Kelly, named after actress and later Princess of Monaco Grace Kelly
- Balenciaga Motorcycle
- Bottega Veneta Knot
- Chanel 2.55
- Chloé Edith
- Chloé Paddington
- Chloé Paraty
- Fendi B
- Fendi Spy
- Givenchy Nightingale
- Givenchy Pandora
- D&G Lily
- Dior Samurai
- Dior Lady Dior
- Louis Vuitton Neverfull
- Louis Vuitton Speedy
- Marc Jacobs Stam, named after model Jessica Stam
- Prada Fairy Bag
- Proenza Schouler PS1
- YSL Muse
- YSL Downtown
- Alexander Wang Rocco
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Eric Wilson, New York Times, "Is This It for the It Bag" Nov. 1, 2007
- Poppy Harlow, "The "It" Bag That Isn't" [2], Showbuzz.com, February 9, 2007.
- "The It bags...a must?" [3], Softpedia, January 22, 2007
- Hottest "it" bags of the moment [4], Handbaggers
- ^ a b Patner, Josh (2006-02-26). "From Bags to Riches". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/style/tmagazine/t_w_p166_talk_patner_.html. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
- ^ Corcoran, Monica (January 20, 2008). "From 'It' to Obit". Los Angeles Times: pp. p2
