China’s brand-breaking blogger Mr Bags on why vintage Dior, Prada and Fendi is making a comeback – and why the Celine smiley is his favourite women’s handbag
His monthly ‘Mr. Bags’ Bag Ranking’ can make or break the biggest luxury brands in China, and now the 28-year-old Columbia University graduate born Liang Tao is leading his own trends – Mr Bags’ first major brand collaboration with Givenchy sold out in 12 minutes
“When I first launched a collaboration with Givenchy, although we had prepared so much, neither I nor Givenchy was sure about the outcome,” said Mr Bags, recalling his first big brand collaboration in 2017.
It was 80 limited-edition pink Mini Horizon handbags made exclusively for his fans. “Luckily, the bag sold out within 12 minutes of going online, which brought a lot of hype,” he added. “Soon, hundreds were on the waiting list.” Each was selling for 15,000 yuan (US$2,141), so net sales for all 80 bags reached 1.2 million yuan. A Vice interview showed Mr Bags and his team counting down as new orders came in, minute-by-minute.
But Mr Bags’ unique business model wasn’t built overnight. The 28-year-old blogger, whose real name is Liang Tao, was a graduate student at New York’s Columbia University just a few years ago. Under the influence of his family, he began working in the financial industry at banks and accounting firms, but his heart was with fashion. So he started his blogging career from scratch by pulling pictures off of Weibo and writing in-depth articles on WeChat.
Tao created an entirely new content style in China by analysing the prices, collection values and styles of luxury bags while providing practical tips to millions. He’s also shown a natural business intuition by focusing on handbag categories with higher prices and longer product lifespans. His experience abroad allowed him to communicate efficiently with senior brand executives and gain a deeper understanding of their business pain points while explaining domestic consumption trends he’s been able to spot.
Now, as China recovers from the Covid-19 epidemic, Mr Bags is busy again. His latest collaboration – a Mini Pocket Bag collaboration with Burberry – has once again sold out in 60 seconds and is proof of both China’s lust for revenge shopping and its love of anything Mr Bags-related. We sat down with the trend-making millennial designer.
When did you first realise you had a passion for bags?
When I was in high school, I loved fashion and read a lot of Vogue and I dreamed of becoming a fashion designer. I had the passion! When I was a freshman, I discovered the world of big-name luxury bags. These brands had their own classic designs and embodied legendary stories from the past, while they constantly pushed out interesting new designs. I loved to research bags back then and I shared my views on different bags with fans on the internet.
What are some of your favourite bags or bag designers?
I love Celine’s bag designs during the Phoebe Philo period. They’re simple and elegant, and they don’t need to show off a big logo to convey style, especially my favourite smiley bag [Celine’s luggage that looks like a smiley face]. When the first collection was launched, I recommended it to my mother. The collection became so fashionable that my mum was praised wherever she went. You could say the smiley bag is the first item I saw take off first hand. Lately, I’m very into the classic Dior Presbyopia bag under Maria Grazia Chiuri, Burberry’s Big Pocket bag and Louis Vuitton’s men’s bag.
