Why a summer bag is the ultimate wardrobe update

01/05/2024

lisa armstrong

For Lisa’s full outfit details, scroll down – Sarah Brick

Plus: Lisa solves your fashion dilemmas below

Specifically shopping for a summer bag might seem restrictive or extravagant. Something that belongs to another era, when Jackie O-type women with white gloves ordered their wardrobes according to strict rules about what to wear when. But spring and summer often see us adjusting our habits.

Maybe you’re wearing paler or brighter clothes. The hands-free cross-body that went over your coat might not feel so comfortable over a shirt. Perhaps you’re going out straight from work more regularly and need something slightly bigger for all your bits, or in a material that won’t get damaged by wet clothes if you’ve started going for regular swims.

This season is an opportunity to break out. If you love creamy neutral outfits, block-coloured bags can add interest. If most of your clothes are plain, a patterned canvas or woven tote adds drama – Dior created global demand for these six years ago and now you can find versions at every price point.

Russell & Bromley

For special events, pastel bags can make a muted outfit look dressier; fringes and tassels bring some chic whimsy while a stripy bag adds some graphic dash. Check out Lily & Bean’s website, where you can customise colours to your heart’s content.

The Strathberry x Collagerie collaboration is also a source of spring/summer inspo. Strathberry, worn by the Duchess of Sussex and the Princess of Wales, makes stylish leather classics that are built to last. Collagerie is a website that gathers the best in homewares and fashion across the internet on one platform. It was founded by former Vogue-ettes Lucinda Chambers and Serena Hood and has a specific point of view (I haven’t met anyone who doesn’t love it). That point of view has a lot to do with colour and stripes, which is what they brought to Strathberry, on pieces including the new bucket-shaped Bollo bag I’m carrying here.

‘We couldn’t be happier with the results,’ Leeanne Hundleby, who founded Strathberry with her husband Guy, says. Hundleby generally runs around carrying a Strathberry shopper with artisanal details and subtle hardware. ‘I’m constantly juggling… this is what I find myself coming back to season after season.’

Chambers has dozens of bags collected during a career in fashion spanning more than 40 years. ‘I tend to rotate them each day depending on what I’m wearing… not only so I never tire of them but to give them a little rest so they stay in peak condition.’ Often you’ll find her with a stripy bag. ‘I find them uplifting,’ she says. ‘They never date, they go with each other and everything else. If you wear neutrals they give an instant lift, and if you dress more colourfully, they blend in.’

Try these…

Handwoven leather bag, £295, Stelar; Woven tote, £295, Russell & Bromley; Handwoven bag, £115, Columbia Collective

Canvas and leather clutch, £245, DeMellier; Crochet bag, £261, Loeffler Randall; Personalised denim and leather tote bag, £99, Lily & Bean

Lisa wears: Cotton jumper, £220, Sessun; Cotton knit vest, £81, Balzac; Fluted skirt, £87, & Other Stories; Leather shoes, £370, ATP Atelier; Leather and canvas bag, £395, Strathberry x Collagerie; Gold plated and enamel earrings, £65, Jigsaw; Gold plated and emerald coloured glass ring, £70, Shyla; Bio-acetate sunglasses, £135, Jimmy Fairly

Lisa solves your style dilemmas

Lisa responds to your queries, lending her expertise to help you shop smart. Have a question for her? Submit it here.

Try these…

Lisa solves your style dilemmas

OTHER NEWS