It Bags

The world of fashion is always vibrant with innovative ideas, a new design or style that storms the market, and immediately gains popularity amongst the celebrities, the rich and the famous, becoming the fashion statement of the season. The It bag became the ultimate fashion statement at the beginning of the new millennium, when the latest iconic designs by famous companies like Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Fendi and others were given this popular name by the fashion press. The concept of It bags took hold of every fashionista’s imagination and in no time the It bag became the ultimate must-have fashion accessory.

The rise of the It bag was fuelled by the boom period of economic prosperity at the end of the Nineties and beginning of the new millennium, when luxury goods were in greater demand than ever. Designers created an iconic style for each season that they hoped would catch the imagination of the well-heeled, and handbag prices rose, as a true It bag had to be made with top quality luxury materials, such as exotic leather. Already classic handbag designs, such as the Birkin, also came to be called It bags ,even though they had been fashionable long before the term was coined. The main aim of the producers was to create a distinctive fashion signature for women who could afford to spend any amount of money to maintain their status as leaders in the trendy world of fashion. Some of us are so obsessed with fashion, we are ready to spend even up to one third of our income on fashion items.

The It bag has all the special qualities and features that set it apart from ordinary handbags: luxury crocodile and python leather, signature stitching and straps, but in the end it is the logo that contributes to the enormous price tag. For an It bag to be desirable and get the attention of the women who want to display their class and status in society, it must be immediately recognizable as, for example, the latest Hermes or Fendi design. It bag producers are quite aware of this attitude of fashionable women so they add style and elegance to their It bags. They create special limited edition versions by inlaying the designs on the bags with precious gems, even creating diamond encrusted one-off pieces, or creating designer bags made of special patchwork and other designs that not only make the bags look attractive and stylish but also separate them from the other handbags available in the market.

To enhance the desirability of the It bags, designers very often decided to make them in a strictly limited supply, sometimes even having wait-lists of many months. This maintained the exclusivity of the bag, increasing its popularity with the celebrities and the well-off fashion conscious women. By making it rare they made it even more desirable. The price of the It bags was usually in the several thousand dollar range. Yet they are still so popular that even today the It bags maintain their special status with dignity and style on the shelves of the galleries and outlets all over the world. The It bags of the last decade are now becoming the classics that future generations of handbag lovers will collect.

Designer handbags created by famous companies like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermes, Fendi and other renowned companies are still considered the ultimate in status symbols. The popularity of these special bags can be judged by the fact that a woman seen carrying one of these bags is automatically rated as being part of high society irrespective of the dress that she is wearing or the car that she is driving and her other accessories like the jewelry, shoes and belt that adorn her.

These bags are so in demand that very often the latest model of the designer It bag is sold by advance bookings directly from the designer’s outlet, usually with a wait list. Therefore, the few bags produced do not reach the open market but go straight from the companies into the hands of the lucky women who managed to book them as soon as the new bag was released to the media and photographed on the arm of the celebrity of the moment.

However, despite the many efforts made by each  fashion company to produce the most desirable It bag of the season, its success and its popularity is mainly determined by the fashion press, who can either pick up on the designer’s hype and promote the bag favorably, or criticize it as a fashion disaster. Above all, a bag’s success is determined by the movie stars and celebrities, who are seen in all the best places wearing the latest bag. The media influences our tastes more than anything else. So it is not guaranteed that a perfect designer bag will become the It bag of the season, because it has to gain the general consent of the fashion world and receive good feedback from journalists and celebrities. A bag is considered the It bag of the moment only when famous people wear it, never mind the logo!!!

Then there is another element to consider: today the world of fashion is experiencing the impact of the change that designers are creating, a trend which is entirely different from the fashion statement of the last decade when the It bags have been so popular. Today the younger generation prefers to wear dresses that have many pockets along with matching jewelry, shoes and belts, and they are leaving the handbag behind them, as too cumbersome, when they go out clubbing or to parties. There have also been many articles in the press, saying that the age of the It bag is over, now that the depressed state of the global economy makes an excessive display of extravagance seem in bad taste. With restraint the order of the day, perhaps the more extravagant and expensive It bags will lose their popularity, and maybe the ‘It bag’ name will no longer be used so much, but the best of the It bags are sure to become tomorrow’s classic handbag designs, just as the Kelly and the Birkin were household names long before the name ‘It bag’ was ever thought of.