Gucci has an It bag, so does Louis Vuitton: can Telfar, loved by Bella Hadid and Beyoncé, become the next iconic bag brand?

Audrey Hepburn had the Louis Vuitton Keepall, Jane Birkin had the Hermès Birkin, Princess Diana had the Dior Lady D – but where is the It bag of today?

Labels that define modern fashion have failed to create a bag as enduring as the Fendi Baguette or Gucci’s Jackie O, but Telfar’s vegan leather tote comes close

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There have been no It bags created in recent years, but Telfar’s vegan leather tote – beloved by stars from Bella Hadid to Beyoncé – comes close. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 4:15am, 15 Sep 2021Updated: 2:44pm, 15 Sep 2021

Many of fashion’s most enduring images are of icons carrying iconic bags.

There was Audrey Hepburn with the Louis Vuitton Keepall in the 1950s, for example, or Jane Birkin with the Hermès Birkin in the ’60s. Meanwhile, both Princess Diana with the Dior Lady D in the ’90s and Kate Moss with the Mulberry Bayswater in the early noughties perfectly captured the aesthetic of a decade.

Notably, all of these releases remain It bags today, which begs the question – where are all the new designs? When British Vogue wrote about the most memorable bags of the last 100 years, only two were made in the 20th century – the Mulberry Bayswater and the Balenciaga Motorcycle bag – and both of them debuted in the early noughties.

In an era of five collections a year and a laser-focus on products designed to make money, why do brands find it so difficult to make a bag that goes viral?

Princess Diana carrying the Dior Lady D in the ’90s. Photo: REX/SIPA

Major labels that define modern fashion have failed to create a bag as enduring as the Fendi Baguette or Gucci’s Jackie O.