Handbags Knock Gladrags Onto The Ropes

The Sunday Age

Sunday January 7, 2007

MICHELLE GRIFFIN, with GUARDIAN

For dedicated followers of fashion, it's not just about the frock anymore. Hadley Freeman and Michelle Griffin report.

PERHAPS handbags shouldn't be called accessories any more. In the booming luxury goods market, designer bags not only outsell the clothes but dominate the catwalks. The recent $30 million refurbishment of David Jones flagship stores put designer handbags - with their $2000 price tags - in the very centre of its ground-floor cosmetics and accessories floors. Also, specialist accessories boutiques such as Christine and Miss Louise report long waiting lists for each season's must-have bags from labels such as Chloe, Fendi and Balenciaga.

According to business analysts Mintel, the accessories business, particularly handbags, is the fastest-growing sector of the luxury fashion market, "outperforming the other aspects of the market with ease". Claudia d'Arpizio, a partner at the consultancy Bain & Co Inc, was quoted on the Dow Jones newswires recently as saying that the leather goods market alone grew to EUR15.5 billion ($A25.7 billion) last year, up from EUR11.9 billion in 2001 and far exceeding growth in the overall luxury market.

The current trend for oversized bags, goggle-like sunglasses and clumping great wedges and boots reflects the way accessories have become the main focus. At the Louis Vuitton show, one of the bags was simply printed with images of other Vuitton bags, apparently the most aspirational image that designer Marc Jacobs could think of. A headline in the International Herald Tribune above a story reviewing Paris fashion week simply read: "Baubles, bangles and bags: Who cares about the clothes?"

Cosmetics, in particular perfume, have long been regarded as the oxygen that keeps the fashion industry afloat, mopping up the clothing sector's heavy losses with its commercial affordability. But perfume sales have been slowing dramatically; for the past two years the sector has grown only slightly worldwide, whereas the bag sector is predicted to grow at about 11 per cent over the next five years.

Just 10 to 15 years ago the words "designer handbag" were redolent of stuffy matrons clutching their Chanel quilted bags. Now, announcements heralding this season's It bags make front covers of fashion and gossip magazines, and news of which bag Kate Moss or Sienna Miller is carrying this season causes mass waiting lists. Ask a woman why she would shy away from spending $2000 on, say, a Balenciaga jacket but will save up for a similarly priced Balenciaga bag and you get this answer: you use shoes and bags more than a jacket, accessories don't make you feel fat, you don't have to bother with a changing room to try on accessories in a store, they go with everything and dress up everything.

"People aren't happy with just one bag any more," says Jacqueline Fischman, owner of Melbourne luxury accessories boutique Miss Louise. "If there's a certain cult bag, we know to get as much of that bag as possible."

First, there was the emergence in the late '90s of designer brands such as Marc Jacobs, Chloe, Balenciaga and Luella, which targeted younger customers and made the accessories to match. Sofia Coppola featured in the ads for Jacobs' bags and he named one after her. This naming of bags has also proved to be a clever and successful tactic as it gives the bags a kind of identity and it is now done by almost all fashion companies.

"We talk about our bags as if they're people," says Christine Barro, famed former accessories buyer for Georges and now owner of Christine boutique. "They have names. We don't give our clothes names."

Blame the current bag mania on all the celebrities out there, such as Kate Moss or Mischa Barton, toting a different bag each week.

"Bags and shoes are everything in fashion now. At the shows (in Paris last month) I saw about 20 different new It bags," says Rachel Zoe, the celebrity stylist who has encouraged the accessories craze thanks to her penchant for oversized bags now sported by her clients, including Keira Knightley and Lindsay Lohan.

Fashion houses are happy to admit that accessories are an important part of their business. Prada concedes that they made up 63 per cent of last year's profits; Gucci owns up to 54.3 per cent but they try not to make them sound too important, as that will give the game away that the brand is actually more about accessories than clothes and therefore detract from the brand's cachet.

"If you focus too much on the accessories you risk losing the image, but at the same time, in terms of business, you really want to focus on the accessories," says Tomaso Galli, Prada's director of external relations.

In other words, the clothes give the bags the image but the bags earn the money to make the clothes.

Many industry insiders suggest that some big brands massage their accessories sales figures downwards and the clothing ones up.

The appeal of accessories for retailers is obvious: on pretty much every level, they are easier to sell and more lucrative. "The margins are always better with accessories than clothes," Mr Galli points out. "You don't have to think about sizes . . . you don't need as much space to show them off in shops and you don't need changing rooms."

The group general manager of apparel at David Jones, Colette Garnsey, said recently that demand for handbags by designers such as Chloe, Prada and Christian Dior has been so high that replacement merchandise has had to be flown in occasionally. Luxury houses such as Prada put strict limits on Australia's allocation of must-have bags.

Now that handbags have become so popular, prices are far above what anyone would have predicted five years ago. Ms Fischman reports that Jimmy Choo's $3190 Ramona bags are in greater demand than its shoes, which can cost half that.

Ms Barro reports that some designer labels are working on handbag ranges that will retail for five-figure sums. "Now that the customer for Burberry or Gucci is not what they'd consider ideal, the design houses have to create something really aspirational and beyond the reach of the general public," she says.

Another factor contributing to the accessories phenomenon is the success of the chain stores' knock-off designer clothing. It is harder to copy a bag or shoes and it is on this front that designers have been fighting back.

This is why most accessories are still made in Italy instead of China and developing-world countries. Fashion companies know that it is only on the quality front that they can keep aspirants at bay. -- with GUARDIAN

HOT... TO HANDLE: FIVE BAGS TO BRAG ABOUT

Balenciaga Motorcycle: Prices from $1995 to $3000.

Looks like: Hundreds of variations and colours but all are soft, slouchy bags with shoulder straps and handles, tassels and studs.

Carried by: Gwyneth Paltrow, Beyonce, Mischa Barton and Lindsay Lohan.

Chloe Paddington: Prices start at $2000.

Looks like: The big soft overnight bag, complete with padlock, carried by Paddington Bear - if he'd gone in for embossed leather and gold hardware.

Carried by: Kate Moss, Mischa Barton and Lindsay Lohan (again).

Fendi Spy: Prices start around $2700 but rise according to finish and availability.

Looks like: Soft, unstructured bag with hard round handles and square buckles, named after hidden coin purse.

Carried by: Hilary Duff, Sienna Miller and Keira Knightly.

Prada Gauffre: : Large size retails for about $3850.

Looks like: A big satiny quilted leather shopping bag with snap closure and shoulder straps.

Carried by: Halle Berry, Madonna and Victoria Beckham.

YSL Muse: Prices start at about $2295.

Looks like: An oversized old-fashioned purse with a Y outline stitched into the sides and handles big enough for a shoulder.

Carried by: Kate Moss, Lindsay Lohan, Naomi Watts and Nicole Kidman.

© 2007 The Sunday Age

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