She's clutching her toddler's hand, and pressing a phone to her ear. Fortunately, she doesn't have to worry about also hanging on to her fab, fashionable handbag. The bag, worn across her body and held in place with a long strap, is hands-free.Reported by A Pakistan times.
Such bags are suddenly everywhere. Dubbed the cross-body bag, they are practical, attractive and, with styles priced at every point from four digits to two, highly accessible.
"Everybody needs to be hands-free," says Brooke Scott, fashion director of handbags and accessories at Bloomingdale's.
The cross-body bag has come into vogue in the past few years amid the growing popularity of the hard-to-put-down smartphone. These bags outsold traditional handbags last
This product image provided by LeSportsac shows their Kasey crossbody bag. The crossbody bag, sporting a long strap and worn across the body, is taking its place in the life of today's modern woman. (AP Photo/LeSportsac) NO SALES
year, according to the NPD Group, a market research firm.
"The idea of not having to carry an old-fashioned, ladylike handbag in your hand by the handles is really appealing," says Linda Wells, editor-in-chief of Allure. "People want more function in their fashion, and not just frivolity."
The style is derived from the bags bike messengers wore and the utilitarian fashions of the late 1970s and early 1980s, says Ellen Goldstein-Lynch, chairwoman of the accessories design department at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology. They have popped up sporadically since then, made mostly by low- to moderate-level companies, she says.
Now, though, they are also offered by high-end designers like Ferragamo and Hermès.
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"It's the first time it's been brought back with a lot of style," Goldstein-Lynch says.
A mention of the style may conjure images the cross-body bags introduced by LeSportsac, in 1982 and still marketed by them today. Known for its lightweight nylon bags with whimsical prints, the company's Kasey — a rectangular cross-body bag with the iconic three zippered pockets — is a top-seller worldwide, says D'Arcy Jensen, the company's chief creative director.
Sources:www.mercurynews.com
