Hermes \'Birkin\'

 \"It\'s not a bag: it\'s a f***ing Birkin!\" shrieks Samantha, in Sex and the City, when she attempts to use Lucy Liu\'s name to move up the legendary Hermes Birkin waiting list. What she means is this isn\'t a bag it\'s the ultimate fashion status symbol. The Birkin has been called the ‘perfect\' bag, i.e. once you get one you never want another. Er, is that handbag or Birkin? Victoria Beckham is rather fabulously rumoured to have a room full in every colour. Traditionally low in supply and high in demand you have to wait eight months to six-years for one of these. The story goes, the actress Jane Birkin sat next to Hermes chief exec Jean-Louis Dumas on a Paris to London flight in 1984 and was whinging on about how she couldn\'t find a decent, chic, weekend bag. He obliged and put her name to it. A tip: try the Hermes cancellation list or eBay, where Michael Tonello, author of Bringing Home The Birkin, famously sold them and made his fortune.

By Julia Robson 

Left: Katie Holmes with Hermes Birkin bag

New season ‘it’ bags

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Fendi \'Baguette\'

Arguably the first real ‘it bag\', the hype and furore surrounding this was it\'s price tag - upwards of £1,000 - and the fact it came in the handbag equivalent of a size ‘0\'. Created in 1998 the idea behind the Baguette, according to it\'s creator, Silvia Venturini Fendi, was that each one was a mini piece of art that would jazz up any outfit. Ideal for the busy, modern, RICH, woman who couldn\'t rush home to change in the evenings. It proved irresistible arm candy, coming in any colour leather and fabric, including exotic skins (lizard, crocodile and mink), sometimes patchworked together and woven with gold thread and festooned with diamonds. Despite the fact it just about fits keys, lipstick and a couple of credit cards, the Baguette continues to sell out. But hey, practicality wasn\'t, isn\'t and never will be a selling point of an iconic bag. Although, interestingly enough, it\'s baby sister, the Croissant, failed to bleep on the fashion radar.

Left: Mandy Moore with Fendi Baguette bag

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Dior \'Saddle\'

What can we say about this other than it\'s inspired by a horse\'s saddle, incorporates a stirrup, buckle, bit, rivets, a giant metal ‘D\' and various jangly spurs and horsy bits, oh and it\'s completely revolutionized bag shapes. This kick-started the trend for weighty handbag embellishment and proved particularly popular with fashionable equestrianistas, and of course Chingford Chavs and Far Eastern ladies, who love a little bag with a lot going on.  It\'s much easier to sell bags than clothes and much harder to rip-off a fiercely copyrighted bag in the shape of a saddle. You do the maths. Dior Saddles come in anything from exotic python or alligator to French toile du jour and are reliably expensive. Launched in 2000, last year, John Galliano celebrated a decade at the helm of Christian Dior with a highly collectable limited edition, further demonstrating the commercial genius behind the French fashion powerhouse. Ride on.

Left: Sienna Miller with Christian Dior Saddle bag

New season ‘it’ bags

Balenciaga \'Lariat\'

In 2001, the year Gucci Group (PPR) acquired Balenciaga, the motorcycle-inspired Lariat roared onto the fashion scene. Designer, Nicholas Ghesquière poured his heart and soul into this, distilling his unique vision - Sci-Fi robot, organic forms, 1980\'s New Romantics, biker girl chic, French classicism - into a distressed leather, inky blue, squishy tote with tassles, zips and rivets. He then dispatched the first thirty to chums, (Kate Moss, Sienna Miller, Chloë Sevigny, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Carine Roitfeld), a process known in marketing as ‘seeding\'. Happily all these women were \"social sparks\", in other words instigators, originators and reliable trendsetters, who unanimously gave the Lariat the thumbs-up. No wonder, this has a louche, casual MOD (model-off-duty) look about it whilst being fashionably on trend. Along with skinny trousers and a blouson jacket, it remains part of the Balenciaga ‘look\'.

Left: Kate Moss with Balenciaga Lariat bag

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Luella \'Giselle\'

Making it\'s debut in 2002 at the peak of ‘it bag\' hysteria, Luella Bartley\'s collaboration with Mulberry, the ‘Gisele\', re-visited the idea Hermes (Kelly, Birkin) and Gucci (Jackie O), dreamt up in the 1960\'s, of naming a handbag shape after a stylish woman. Preferably a beautiful filmstar or powerful First Lady or both. Luella aimed high, choosing the world\'s highest paid model (without having to hire her for the day to pose with it presumably?). The strappy tote-style shape resembles a music score briefcase updated with equestrian-inspired horizontal straps forming a lattice around the bag. A nice, girly touch is the double love heart label. Initially launched in ‘tack shop\' brown, most coveted, and still selling well, are pink and white.

Left: Gisele with Luella Gisele bag

New season ‘it’ bags

Louis Vuitton \'Murakami\'

Is it art or is it fashion? It\'s in fact a bag which costs the same as a small car and apart from the handles isn\'t even made of leather. After Murakami\'s spring/summer 2003 catwalk debut, the rumour goes phone lines at Louis Vuitton were jammed with orders. It took several shipments of the bags to even make it into stores because of pre-orders. Art-lover Marc Jacobs is credited with bringing onboard the pop-artist, Takashi Murakami (a sort of Japanese version of Jeff Koons, most famous for his cartoony paintings and sculptures created from inflatable balloons), to spruce up the most-copied, most covetable bags in the world. Bet he\'s glad. The very recognizable Mulitcolore (each one features 33 bright and jolly shades) might have Georges Vuitton (son of Louis) who ironically invented the LV logo in order to PREVENT copies, spinning in his grave, but it has provided the French brand with yet another iconic pattern.

Left: Naomi Campbell with Louis Vuitton Murakami

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Chloe \'Paddington\'

With designer clothes becoming so accessible and copied, Chloe came up with the idea of creating a limited edition bag that, as well as costing well over the average monthly salary, would make a woman feel part of an exclusive, trendy ‘club\'. This particular ‘it bag\' with it\'s distinctive, laughably oversized clunking lock, intriguing doctor\'s bag shape, whiffy leather and renown rarity, gave instant ‘pop star\', or ‘rich bitch\' status to the lucky owner (\"Love the bag. Hate her\"). It also rendered any clothes worn with it redundant which proved quite handy for the Sienna Miller\'s of this world who run the risk of getting ‘papped\' merely putting out the milk. At the height of it\'s fame, in 2005, the Paddington eclipsed all others, and, like the Hermes Birkin and Kelly, is still mostly available to mere mortals by means of a very long waiting list.

Left: Mischa Barton with Chloe Paddington bag

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Marc Jacobs \'Stam\'

 You want a big bag? You want an instantly recognisable bag? Squishy and so soft it could double as a pillow. Plus you want the option of a shoulder strap and hand straps, a few pockets, clasps, all the usual guff? Marc Jacobs has a woman\'s eye when it comes to knowing what girls want. Fans of his Stam bag see it as the best thing since sliced bread. Critics dismiss it as a garish, Frankenstein-esque hotch potch of just about every it-bag design detail to date, from quilted leather to dolly bag fastening. Who cares? This sexy, funky, much-copied style has enjoyed sell-out success since 2006 and boasts a huge celebrity following including Lindsay Lohan, Kate Moss, Dita Von Teese and Scarlett Johansson. This is the style most women want to hire on all those handbag hire sites. Oh, and for those handbag anorak types, this was named after successful but lesser known Canadian supermodel, Jessica Stam, who needed a big bag for her portfolio.

Left: Jessica Stam with Marc Jacobs Stam bag

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Mulberry \'Bayswater\'

The flashy Roxanne (or ‘Roxy\' as it was called by devotees), lucked out to the less in-your-face, Bayswater (neé 2004), also pioneered by Mulberry\'s former director Nicholas Knightly, which has emerged as the true bag icon. Stripped of all excess (pockets, rivets, tassles, chains etc), the plain sheet-music style carrier so beloved of Mossy and many more style gurus, is both classy, timeless and classic. But this is not the era to go miniminalist. Proving it can be versatile when required, this season the Bayswater is rolled out in exotic fabrics from shocking pink ostrich (for around £2,000) to sleek bronze mirror metallic for a seasonal look, as well as those gorgeous, very British classic shades Mulberry is renown for. This bag is the sort that allows people to communicate without uttering a word. It can be used to impress or rebel, to fit in or stand out. A luxury bag equivalent of a Converse trainer or Chanel No 5 perhaps?

Left: Alexa Chung with patent Mulberry Bayswater bag

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YSL \'Muse\'

The YSL Muse ticks all the boxes of a bonafide ‘it\' bag. It\'s pretty much always sold out, has been spotted slung over the shoulder of Naomi Watts, Jennifer Lopez, Kate Moss, Jessica Alba, La Lohan and countless WWM celebrities (women who matter). It costs over a grand and is distinguishable from any other bag (including countless counterfeit copies). The roomy oval design with it\'s double zip and big straps is perfectly proportioned and gives the wearer instant class. Whoever said, \"a bag is a bag until you slap a logo on\" obviously hasn\'t clapped eyes on the Muse. Launched in 2006 it virtually became an icon overnight and is still popular despite competition from the newly launched, Muse II. Whaddya mean that\'s only two years? It\'s a lifetime in bag fashion.

Left: Coleen McLoughlin with YSL Muse bag

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New season ‘it’ bags