What is the “It” Handbag?

Fashion may have several trends at once, such as the many trends seen in 2009, but there’s always one that’s above the rest. This “It” trend is the most sought after, be it for clothing, shoes, or handbags. At the moment, the “It” trend appears to be animal prints, particularly leopard spots or stripes, in many variations, but this, of course, depends on the brand. In fact, according to a recent article in the Daily Mail, sales of luxury handbags are up, with a 60 percent increase in 2009. Can this be attributed to an “It” handbag or another trend?

A luxury handbag is simply a purse designed by a high-end designer brand. In this case, brand Mulberry saw significant gains last year, with a 100 percent increase in sales. One way they’ve kept ahead of the competition is through naming bags after celebrities. In particular, the “It” handbag by Mulberry is the Alexa bag, named after model and television personality Alexa Chung. The brand, additionally, had several celebrity endorsements over the past year. While the Alexa bag has a basic leopard print and slouch style, Mulberry debuted similar styles at this year’s fashion week, including bold and bright colored animal print handbags.

How important of an accessory is a handbag? This article found that, in the UK, the average spending for a woman on handbags is £4000, which comes out to $6117 USD, yearly. This average woman also owns 17 handbags. But, while this may seem like a large sum of money for an accessory, some celebrities like Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham own enough Hermes Birkin bags to be worth £1 million. A handbag is considered as much of a part of an outfit as pants, a shirt, or jewelry, and, as a result, the average woman has many options to choose from to go with various looks.