Make a complete fashion statement

By Sunanda Singh

THERE used to be a time when bags were meant to serve a purpose. You took them out on shopping, or at work, essentially to hold things when your hands were full.

Today, you do not need any such reason for setting out with a bag. It has become as much part of daily wear as perhaps, your shoes, belt, scarf or dupatta.

What is more, not just any bag would do. It must not only be durable and pretty, but should match well with what you wear, both in colour and design. That it may not be able to hold much, is only secondary.

In other words, bags are meant to make a style statement.

Indians discovered the utility of the bag as a fashion accessory rather late. At best, it was the vanity case that used to be flaunted by film stars that some fashionable women went in for.

Nandita Raj, who retails bags under her label Hideshow observes: "Those vanity cases are things that no woman today would want to be seen dead in. Now women are going in for sleek, lightweight, colourful stuff that should not only look classy, but is convenient as well. I notice women are turning increasingly conscious of the finish of the product."

At her store in a Bombay five-star hotel, Nandita stocks a variety of bags from crochet batuas to pouches, hand purses and slings. "Young people go in for trendy, look-oriented bags, whereas older women feel safe with practical no-nonsense bags."

Ruby Bhatia, a television personality, says: "I do not go for brands when I am buying a bag. For me, the most important thing is convenience and size. Moreover, my bag should have a zipper."

Oddly enough, branded bags made inroads into the fashion scene when some enterprising manufacturers got into replicating Gucci, Donna Karan, Yves Saint Laurent and Cartier, selling them for a price as low as Rs 1,000 toRs 1,500 only.

Vinod Puri, one such manufacturer in Bombay, says: "Most women want us to copy designs complete with foreign monograms. It is too risky to manufacture bags with original designs."

Rajbir Handa of Tack Bags agrees: "We were into leather garments earlier, jackets, shirts and so on. We got into bags quite by chance when a lot of our customers came to us with designs cut from foreign newspapers and magazines."

Nevertheless, major design studios like Melange and Gliterrati ventured into making their own branded bags and before long, the trend caught on. Accessorising with clothes followed soon after.

Today, Ritu Kumar of Delhi is reckoned to be the most successful designer in this area. Rarely do her clothes not accompany a bag as a compulsory accessory with the Kalamkari label distinctly embossed or appearing as a clasp.

But then, she is also careful about ensuring that the bag design can be mixed and matched with a large variety of clothes, for the leather bags can be particularly expensive.

Nandita says: "Ritu’s bags form a class of their own. The prices are justified because as an accessory, the bag is meant to heighten the appeal of your clothes. What is the use of wearing an expensive outfit and strutting out in a tacky little bag?"

According to K.S. Vora of Melange, leather is the top favourite for designer bags because of its timeless appeal. "A leather bag never gets out of fashion," he points out.

Besides, leather is the easiest to maintain. Even in case of fungus, it can be wiped off easily. One also has the option of getting it repolished. Among leather, the most commonly used are calf leather in dry milk finish, sheep and buffalo.

Skins are not used on the whole, though many stores keep a few bags embossed with snakeskin. Besides, silk, satin, linen and PVC-mixed fabric are commonly used for branded bags. (MF).

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