Every season, a new star silhouette for handbags becomes most coveted. If last spring’s practical bucket bag won purse junkies all around the globe, we welcome the rise of boxy, square handbags this fall.
Available in the most structural frameworks, these four-pointed pieces provide hard case or soft case options for those looking for either long-lasting form or ease of use.
Though some designs resemble a treasure box, a lunch box, or a toolbox, don’t fret! The runways proved how wearable they can be no matter what purpose they may serve.
Here are fall’s new power players, which won the bag game fair and square.
Louis Vuitton Vanity Case
When we saw Louis Vuitton’s vanity box on the runway, we were like, “Why not?” The shiny gold finish and brass corners make it an interesting proposition for an everyday bag. Louis Vuitton creative director Nicholas Ghesquière has always been into the use of technology. The mini trunks now come in transparent fiberglass, aluminum, and copper iterations. And if they’ve served as vanity kits before, these boxy cases are more functional with their roomy compartments. These can now store smartphones, tablets, chargers, and other modern day necessities.
Louis Vuitton. Available at G/F Greenbelt 4, Makati Ave, Makati City. For more information, visit their website.
Alexander McQueen Lunchbox
For all those ladies who lunch, you can now do so in style. The lunchbox-looking hard-shell bag has a metal cage design that amps up its design value. That’s not even the best part. It’s made of crocodile skin in blush! Wear the bag like a stylish lunchbox with its hinge closure and flat top handle in replacement of the plastic one you used to have when you were younger. Though it is not necessarily designed to hold food for snack time, it would be one expensive lunchbox if you were to use for that.
Alexander McQueen. Available at G/F Shangri-La Plaza Mall East Wing, EDSA corner Shaw Boulevard, Mandaluyong City. For more information, visit their website.
Prada “Bag Within a Bag”
For fall, Prada launched its newest bag: the Inside Bag. Found inside is—surprise!—another bag, hence the name. The pastel-colored line of bags comes in pink, blue, green, and yellow with a carefully concealed bag in a contrasting color. This soft-cased boxy bag can be carried zipped (removed word) or flung wide open to reveal the interior pouch sewn inside. While this one is made of ostrich leather, two other versions in varying sizes come in either python or soft calf-skin.
Prada. Available at G/F Greenbelt 4, Makati Ave., Makati City. For more information, visit their website.
Dolce & Gabbana Memory Box
Remember that old little box where you kept your small trinkets and mementos? Dolce & Gabbana’s collections, which have always been about whims and fancies, now came up with a petite memory box of a bag. It can store not just your secrets but, of course, your well kept belongings, as well. They come in fully embellished versions or in very simple solid-colored ones. And as a way of personalizing the bag further, it comes with a cute gold padlock. Even now that you’re all grown up, you can still keep your secrets safe.
Dolce & Gabbana. For more information, visit their website.
Bally Travel Case
After 150 years, Bally creative director Pablo Coppola says that right now, the brand is about boldness. He tells Style.com, “You do a camel cashmere sweater and nobody says anything, but do it in fuchsia, everybody wants it.” Such is the case with the now-bolder travel trunks. The old-fashioned design was given a modern-day wake-up call through carefully crafted colors—bright yellow, paint bucket green, and lit purple. Pick your size. Some can be hand-carried while a few can serve your hefty travel needs just right.
Bally. Available at G/F Greenbelt 4, Makati Ave., Makati City. For more information, visit their website.
Chanel Perfume Bottle
Let’s talk about Chanel No. 5. And no, we’re not talking about the classic fragrance. It’s a supersized version made into a handbag. Since its debut in the 2013 collections, it continued to carry on season after season in various reinterpreted styles. It was a seasonal hit, to say the least. For fall, it comes in a striped brown and black design with a huge, glittery number “5” emblazoned in front with the signature chain. There is also a pared-down, black-and-white version for those going for minimal. Both are made of plexiglass so be careful! Just like the real perfume bottles, they’re as fragile.
Chanel. For more information, visit their website.
Art by Dorothy Guya