I Swear Every Cool Person at Fashion Week Was Carrying One of These 6 Handbags

In the midst of navigating where I'm heading and where I'm off to next during fashion week in New York (I do, in fact, live here, but getting lost remains my specialty), I make it a point every season to scope out the cool items that everyone is wearing, specifically looking for ones that pop up again and again. On the apparel side, there were certainly a few repeats, with big-ticket items including scarf coats, distressed leather jackets, full skirts, and anything really that feels ballet-inspired. The handbag selection, however, was by far the main event. 

Throughout New York Fashion Week, show attendees debuted a vast array of bags, from classic shapes by the likes of Celine, Louis Vuitton, and Chanel to more on-trend silhouettes and accents like bowlers, metallics, and perhaps most prominent, surrealist styles. Knowing the brevity of the handbag moments this season, I took it upon myself to narrow down the trends I spotted most outside of seven days worth of nonstop shows, presentations, and previews this week to the six that feel most relevant and buzzy. Scroll down to see which ones made the biggest impact this season. 

Fashion week is not the time for bags that don't flex with your needs. Nearly every stop in your day leaves you with another knickknack of some sort, meaning that your handbag of choice needs to allow for new additions on top of all the essentials fashion week calls for (e.g., hand sanitizer, portable chargers, snacks, and in the case of this season, Rhode's Peptide Lip Treatment), and for all of that, only an unstructured bag will really do. Luckily, thanks to brands like Khaite, Ree Projects, Bottega Veneta, and more, slouchy, anti-structure bags are a dime a dozen these days. 

Shop unstructured bags:

There's nothing new about braided bags at fashion week, mostly because of the hold Daniel Lee's Bottega Veneta bags had on the style set during his tenure. But even with his departure (and now confirmed move to Burberry) and Matthieu Blazy's arrival, the Italian house's signature Intrecciato weaving technique continues to reign supreme on the streets outside of shows. This season marked the first since Blazy's arrival that the handbags he designed had fully replaced those of Lee's, with his Cobble, Kalimero, and Half Moon—in addition to Jodie, of course—bags proving to be especially popular. 

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Though Prada's Supernova bag technically hit the market in time for last season's street style set to snatch it up and show it off, the bowler-style handbag didn't quite make a splash until this week, when show attendees carried all sizes and colors of it throughout their busy days. But the Supernova wasn't the only bowler bag in attendance, with sightings of Dior's 2022 remake of its iconic early aughts style and alts from fashion-favorite brand Marge Sherwood as well.

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Of all the bag trends I spotted during NYFW, the one that felt the freshest and most ubiquitous was metallic. Throughout the week, silver- and gold-painted leather styles, as well as shiny, chrome, and metal alts, continued to make appearance after appearance, oftentimes turning up the style level of the outfits they're paired with tenfold. 

Shop metallic bags:

The influx of surrealist accessories on the streets this season should come as no surprise given the success of recent collections by the likes of Loewe, Puppets and Puppets, and Off-White, all of which have included their fair share of reality-bending touches, from Off-White's slinky boots to Loewe's egg heels. Specifically, show attendees brought this trend to New York Fashion Week in handbag form, giving special attention to Puppets and Puppets' egg- and cookie-embellished top-handle bags. 

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Clutch purses hardly have an exciting reputation, or really, any reputation at all. Oftentimes relegated to the rear of our wardrobes and only set free for formal occasions, the no-straps silhouette can easily be forgotten about. But in a surprise twist, this season's street style stars chose to set the record straight about clutches, opting for cool, unexpected shapes that for once made them the focal point of an outfit. 

Shop clutches:

Next: 144 Hours of New York Fashion Week, as Told by WWW Editors