Papelle Bags

The latest "it" handbag from designer Stuart Vevers is "a leather version of an ordinary brown paper grocery bag for about $1,045," report Ray A. Smith and Christina Passariello in the Wall Street Journal (8/7/10). Not only that, but Stuart is "making a point of using the same bag shapes season after season — the opposite of ‘it’ bags’ short fashion cycle." This is a big departure for Stuart, who had been "known for creating showy studded and tasseled ‘it’ handbags," in the years just prior to the economic collapse.

"It’s kind of taking the bag back to its purest functionality," says Stuart, who designed the bag, known as Papelle (image), for Loewe, a 164-year-old "Spanish leather-goods brand owned by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton. Handbag sales are down in the US, falling 3.3 percent, to $6.97 billion last year, and luxury labels are scrambling to tone down their images. However, Stuart says the transition to his grocery-bag design wasn’t without its challenges.

"Luxury was becoming a word that was so overused," he says. "I think there was some confusion as I was explaining that it was time to move on." However, Loewe CEO Lisa Montague says she "strongly believes in Stuart’s ability and his sensitivity to understand the evolution of the market." Retailer Linda Fargo of Bergdorf Goodman thinks Stuart is on the right track, too. "The time is right for this new kind of classicism," she says. And Stuart is not looking back, saying, "I don’t think I could ever design the way I did then now."