For fashion the dimensions don’t matter
You know, often fashion does not look to practicality and makes it an insignificant option in view of a better result. Have you ever heard of "no pain, no gain"? Well, this seems to be the direction taken by many Fashion Houses for some creations that we could define essentially useless, but that, like nothing else, tickle the soul of lovers of an entirely aesthetic pleasure.
The mini bags are definitely part of this antifunctional trend that has lasted for several seasons on the catwalks and in the street style looks of celebrities, which focus on these micro concentrated of aesthetics and desires to add a decidedly glam and funny touch to their outfits.
But if Kendall Jenner can count on an entourage that supplants the obvious lack of space in this micro Speedy x Takashi Murakami with rainbow monogram by Louis Vuitton, we common people will have to ask for asylum for the house keys in the bags (more capacious, hopefully) of our friends and let our phone hang in our hand all the time: but what do you do for a touch of style?
Leaving behind a decade in which the shopping bag has been the master, we can say goodbye to the idea of old-fashioned bag, intended as an object holder in which we dive and dig to find what we are looking for in that messy tide of junk thrown there randomly, because in our new bags there is just enough space for the narrow necessary.
Dior itself makes fun of its nano size in a video challenge with its employees, in which they challenge each other to include as many objects as possible in the different reinterpretations that the French Maison has created of the most emblematic models signed throughout the various eras: from the micro Lady Dior, passing through the 30 Montaigne and the Saddle signed John Galliano and arriving up to the Dior caro, the latest creation of Maria Grazia Chiuri.
If this tendency to essentiality can lead us to believe that it is something born from the recent desire to strip ourselves of all the superfluous in the name of a new-found desire for lightness and mobility, the history of the costume teaches us the opposite. You just have to go back a hundred years, until 1900, to discover that since then women carried around very small bags, at the time synonymous with the elegance of the upper classes.
However, after a long pause of reflection, in more recent times to relaunch this challenge with blows of centimeters was definitely Simon Porte Jacquemus with Le Chiquito, which in its different nuances has immediately conquered the hearts of lovers and not only, until become the object of desire for many, as well as emblem of the house itself.
While Chanel reinterprets some of its archival pieces, as in the case of the Hula Hoop bag worn on the catwalk during the Cruise 2022-2023 in Monaco, in a clear tribute to Karl Lagerfeld, or with the
sophisticated micro bag in the iconic matellasé effect, other brands aim to create new models. This is the case of Fendi, whose very recent nano Fendigraphy, crescent-shaped and marked by the metal logo that serves as a pedestal, to wear on the wrist like a bracelet, is at the top of the wish lists. And how can we fail to mention the mini format of the very desirable Hourglass by Balenciaga or the Cleo and the Re-edition quilted with crystals by Prada?
Minimum cost, maximum yield? Definitely not. While it is true that these mignon formats make more accessible the possibility of owning an It-bag at lower budgets, prices are still far from being democratic, especially for bags that have the capacity of a keychain.
We are, however, as often happens when it comes to fashion, faced with a taboo to be broken. If we are willing to spend exorbitant amounts on this or that accessory, why isn't the same for bags? In fact, we must begin to familiarize with the idea that the concept of bag has been emptied of its original essence, making it more like a purely ornamental accessory and an end in itself, far from being still
considered the object born to contribute and promote the independence of women, which allowed them to be always on the move carrying with them everything they needed.
Whether they are worn around the neck in their smallest variants, combined with their standard twin or worn all together, the micro bags tell us about a fun and playful side of fashion, in which practicality gives way to a style that shows us how even the smallest things can have a great impact.
