When Jean-Louis Dumas originally created the Birkin—a straightforward work bag featuring a shiny gold clasp and a sleek silhouette—he likely never anticipated that its name would eventually be spoken by aspiring fashionistas as if it were a holy chant. “Once I possess a Birkin, I’ll feel like I’ve achieved success” has turned into a guiding principle for the highly driven and a benchmark for other designers who can only fantasise about such acclaim.
Forty years after its initial creation, the Hermès bag is deemed the pinnacle of luxury fashion. For competing fashion brands, achieving similar success has become an obsession. Although producing imitations has traditionally been viewed as an act of profound disgrace, top designers appear to have shifted this perspective. By 2024, many leading names in the industry opted to stop pursuing the next It-bag and instead focused on recreating it.
Recently, Raf Simons, Adrian Appiolaza, and Miuccia Prada have looked to the past, drawing inspiration from the most recognisable handbag in the world—particularly its distinctive belt feature. Almost instantly, every label introduced its own take on the belted bag, striving to carve out its unique place in fashion history.
In an effort to mimic Hermès’s success formula, sibling brands Prada and Miu Miu showcased belted designs in their respective spring/summer 2024 presentations. The previous season, Moschino infused its quirky style into the trend, wrapping an oversized strap around structured, briefcase-like bags. Meanwhile, Toteme unveiled its belted bucket bag, and Tom Ford was busy attaching a Birkin-esque strap to a basic tote design.
With so many variations available, even the staunchest Birkin fans are opting to leave their favourite bags behind for new alternatives. After gaining attention for her collection of Hermès bag charms, Dua Lipa upgraded to Prada’s £4,500 buckle bag. Saint Laurent enlisted supermodel Kate Moss as the face of its Manhattan bag revival—a move that prompted Hailey Bieber to forgo her own purse collection for an entire month.
How To Style It
We have been discussing the designers and how buckle bags are making a swift comeback in 2025, which you can say has also drawn inspiration from yet again the Y2K era of fashion. It is important to note that while these are expensive accessories, trends that we see in the likes of Dua Lipa and Kate Moss get copied by premium, small and fast fashion designers, so it’s likely to see this trend trickle down in popularity and in the arms of everyone else soon enough, giving the buckle bag its own moment for being a new trendy piece.
When it comes to styling this piece, you may not know where to start but we have put together some inspiration for you.
As everyone is wearing loungewear, men's full tracksuits and gym gear, it comes as no surprise that having a casual option to style your new belt buckle bag becomes imperative. The beauty of a stunning accessory, especially a bag such as this, is possibly perfect to style with any form of clothing, especially when wearing something as casual as loungewear. While this all is dictated by the style of the bag, anything like a shoulder bag would be perfect with any and every outfit and can, in fact, bring your whole outfit together quite nicely.
While you may not have found much inspiration today, this new trendy bag doesn't need much explaining; a buckle bag that is both modern and fashionable is well suited to any and every outfit. Keeping it classic with neutral colours and black will further ensure that this bag is timeless and can be matched with your whole wardrobe.
Sign in to leave a comment.