It is said that the way you hold your handbag speaks much about your personality, temperament and the mood of the moment. Whether you carry your cross-body bag in front of the body thus spitting out your feeling shy or wear your tote in the crook of elbow thus declaring status and position being your priorities, the fall/ winter 2016-2017 handbags have their powerful say in this sphere to maybe demolish your habitual handbag scheme and the way of holding them. The fall/ winter 2016-2017 handbag trends rounded up under our close scrutiny are in a quest to offer up a plethora of designer bag designs and to bring in new ways of carrying them.
1. Hands-Free Fanny Packs
Number one hands-free ultra-comfortable bag type among the fall 2016 handbags is surely the fanny pack outpacing even cross-bodies. Just call to mind all those activities you can carry out with fanny-packs perched around your waist – starting from hands-free hot coffee drinking to cold ice-cream licking when walking down the street, not to mention the facility and security of your iPhone and money. This kangaroo-pouch-reminiscent bag style has surely attracted many a designer having all the potential to become the It bag of 2016. Meet them in droves from down-and-out versions to more chic and chichi options.
Saddle-bag-shaped fanny packs are making a perfect pair with military tomboyish garments at 3.1 Phillip Lim, while reticule-style ones are prettily decorating fit and flaring silhouettes at Celine. At Elie Saab fanny packs are black, crocheted and delicate, while at Off-White – gold-plated and shimmering. Find a new way of carrying fanny packs with the chain strap twirled around the belt at Chanel and leap to a new category at Undercover to carry them on hips of your pants fastened by pins.
2. Leave It Open
There is no denying that many fashion designers might have left their fall 2016 handbags open intentionally on the runway not for demonstrating a new way of carrying them, but just to show off the interior designs of their creations to the onlookers. Regardless of their motives we fall head over heels in love with this cool handbag trend (at least no fret any more when you forget to zip your baguette bag or leave your saddle bag flab swing backwards).
While there are some doubts regarding other fashion houses, Dior’s shoulder bag left open to unfold and show off a purse pocket is beyond the shadow of a doubt to be also a strong propaganda to carry them right that way down the streets. We see Jonathan Anderson’s carry-all slouchy creations for Loewe, unzipped from the middle part and exposing their extra space to hide more things, but admit that when not so many things are necessary to carry, it would be cool to unzip and zip along. The same way we highly appreciate Anya Hindmarch’s solution to unzip messenger bags thus forming a lip-shape illusion at the top section.
3. Bags with Swinging Tassels & Fringing
Number one western style barometer, tassels are yet again making their way through the fashion world albeit not in so much volume as last year, yet swinging and jumping on the fall/ winter 2016-2017 handbags as well. Altuzarra’s saddle bags are flaunting wisps of tassels here and there on straps or on flaps, while the iridescent wisps of tassels are aligned in apple-pie order on straps at Elie Saab. We see bunches of strings decorating miniature top handled bags at DSquared2, many suede tassels at Ralph Lauren and leather ones hanging from the bottom of the delicate reticules at Roberto Cavalli.
4. Printed and Embellished Handbags
If there is one fall 2016 handbag trend begetting intensive binge-watching, that is the trend of printed and embellished handbags happening everywhere up hill and down dale. Dolce & Gabbana is calling the tune with its myriads of sophisticated exemplars – fairy-tale boxy pieces and other handbag styles all encrusted with gems, floral embellishments and prints, optical illusion and houndstooth prints and goodness knows what else. Alessandro Michele’s creations for Gucci concede D&G in no way in terms of prints and embellishments.
We see a range of Dionysus City bags with some botanical and abstract embroidery or with some bejeweled panoply but also other staples showing some zigzag and psychedelic patters. At Christopher Kane you will find lovely crocheted flowers attached here and there, at Dries Van Noten velvet clutches are all decorated with tender feathers, at Fendi it is all about kaleidoscopic and optical illusion views, while at Salvatore Ferragamo iridescent stripes and zigzags come into view. The list of trendsetters lengthens including Giorgio Armani, Miu Miu, Prada, Proenza Schoulder, Dries Van Noten, Chanel, Christian Dior and many others.
5. Searching for Unique Colorblocks
Never stay blocked in some place but fling yourself into colorblocks much as contemporary fashion designers are doing at this juncture. Colorblocked handbags indubitably stand head and shoulders above monochromatic versions. Just a glance at those diplomatic and half-moon handbags by Boss, a whole lot of classic ones by Versace and a couple of shoulder bags by Tory Burch and you will be completely swept off your feet!
6. Freaky and Eccentric Bag Designs
Just in case you hanker for leveraging looks in a New York minute, here come those freaky and eccentric fall 2016 handbags that made us freak out many a time and oft when the fashion month was in full blast. Even if some of us find them out-and-out inappropriate to carry in real life, looking at them only is more than enough to blow away the cobwebs.
You might find the most eccentric fall 2016 handbags at Dolce & Gabbana, for sure – a mini chandelier bag and another manikin in the form of Cinderella’s after-spell carriage, a range of boxy handbags either in the form of horizontally aligned books or presenting a small fragment as if cut from a soft boudoir sofa. We catch a freaky yellow handbag in the form of a thread spool at Chanel, a mysterious diary-book-shaped clutch at Prada and a handful of ghostly samples at Anya Hindmarch.
And you might even take the fall 2016 fashion month as an exceptional period to pay homage to your dogomania essence – grab those realistic dog-shaped fluffy handbags from Jeremy Scott and Thom Browne and pat them on and on throughout the chilly seasons.