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It's official - handbags are the new shoes

In a turning point for fashion, the world's most expensive bag was unveiled this week
'South African women are right up with this wave - they have a big bag fetish. Having had two or three bags 10 years ago, the ordinary fashion-conscious woman will now have four or five, at least'
: London
IT'S unashamedly ugly and costs more than a BMW 3-series sedan - but women are still queueing up to buy it.
Marking the moment when handbags topple shoes as the most important fashion accessory, the world's most expensive handbag - made from bits of 15 other bags - was unveiled in Europe this week, with a price tag of R350000.
The Christian Louboutin Tribute Patchwork - which includes panels of rare feathers, coins, denim and fur - was hailed this week as the sign that handbags had supplanted shoes to become the ultimate fashion accessory. The asymmetrical, quilt-like bag hit catalogues as UK retailer Selfridges reported that the average cost of designer bags had jumped 55% in two years - to an average of R12000.
In another report, global retail market research company NDP Group said the proportion of women in the Western world who bought at least one new bag each year had ballooned from 26% in 2000 to 44% in 2005.
Marshal Cohen, chief industries analyst for NDP, stated that new handbags were now to women what new cars were to men.
And this applies to South Africa as well.
Totes by Chloé, Gucci and Christian Louboutin have been newly introduced to the country on a wave of customer demand so great that it has revived the entire fashion industry.
Experts told the Sunday Times that handbags were in the ascendancy because women had collectively grown tired of their designer shoes being ruined by wear, and of going out of fashion within a year. Bags "have longevity in both senses" and "don't have to match clothes at all".
South African fashion designer Gavin Rajah, in Paris this week to promote his own new range of bags, said: "Oh, South African women are right up with this wave - they have a big bag fetish. Having had two or three bags 10 years ago, the ordinary fashion-conscious woman will now have four or five,louboutin boots, at least. I'm in Paris right now with a very prominent South African businesswoman, and she's carrying a bag by Ralph Lauren which I know costs over R50000."
Confirming Rajah's pronouncement, Top Billing presenter and former Miss South Africa Basetsana Kumalo admitted that she had ",christian boots;more than 150 bags", including bags by Fendi and Christian Louboutin - and often bought them so fast that they piled up in her boot, before she had a chance to transfer them to her house.
Kumalo has yet to see the Tribute, but cooed: "That sounds quite an over-the-top price, but we love Louis (Vuitton) - I'm such a fan. And I love big bags - the kind you can throw your life into.
"I've just bought a beautiful olive ostrich bag, which really did cost an arm and a leg, though I won't say exactly how much."
Vanashree Singh, wife of filmmaker Anant Singh, who has a giant collection of designer handbags herself, said she believed handbags had taken off because "what women are realising is that with a great handbag, you don't have to match your clothes - it makes a statement on its own".
"You can wear a T-shirt from Gap and a pair of jeans, and you know you'll look like you've made it if you just have a smart handbag to go with. Women are thinking about their accessories as investments, not just short-term statements."
The Tribute patchwork has supplanted the Hermes Birkin (around R260000), the Fendi B-Bag (around R230000, in black crocodile skin), and the Muse by Yves St Laurent - a favourite piece of apparel for supermodel Kate Moss.
While it reportedly has already chalked up a waiting list, the bag was panned on blog sites this week.
"Looks like an angry salesman decided to cut up all the ugly bags on the shelves of an LV boutique and (tried) to salvage them."
MONEY BAGS: The Christian Louboutin Tribute Patchwork handbag, which is priced at a very cool R350000, hit the stores in Europe this week

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