When Jane Birkin—the late actor who inspired the Hermès Birkin—carried her namesake bag, she made it even more her own by embellishing it with a motley gaggle of adornments: charms, key chains, prayer beads, stickers, bits of ribbon, luggage tags. The Birkin is widely considered the world’s most difficult handbag to procure. The opportunity to buy one at retail, for upwards of $10,000, is offered only to the French house’s most valued customers; on the secondary market, some Birkins have been known to fetch more than $450,000. But Jane Birkin’s daring, haphazard styling knocked the ultimate It bag off its pedestal and made it lived-in, well-loved, real. That’s the tack we here at GQ advise you take with all bags, be it the hottest designer crossbody or a workaday nylon gym duffel: You define the bag, not the other way around
Dangle a miniature version of Hermès’s legendary purses—scaled-down Kelly bags, some with smiley faces and wheels—from your full-size carryall. Bag accessories, from top, $3,225, Hermès, $5,500, Hermès at Hirshleifers, $4,550, Hermès, $3,225, Hermès.
We added Chrome Hearts’ righteous heavyweight chains to amplify the hardcore vibe of this Balenciaga ($17,900) bag’s pre-weathered leather and abundance of zippers. Bag accessories from Balenciaga (included with bag), Chrome Hearts at Hirshleifers, and Chrome Hearts.
The grannyish florals on this fringed Valentino ($5,000) satchel pair well with Mikimoto’s slightly mismatched string of pearls and Tiffany HardWear’s pavé diamond cable chain (lock and necklaces styled as bag accessories from Marla Aaron, Mikimoto, and Tiffany & Co).
Flipped in race-car-red suede, Bottega Veneta’s ($8,000) intrecciato woven lambskin gets loose with a jumble of over-the-top souvenirs from Rio, Rome, and just about everywhere in between (eight-ball cluster bag accessory from Marland Backus).
This Louis Vuitton Men’s leather duffel (price upon request), and its hypnotic, steel-tread-like incisions, pay homage to Paris’s Pont des Arts and the love locks left along its railings.
A simple black shoulder bag from Prada ($2,750) gets a jolt of weirdo energy via the label’s very own braided-leather wallet chains and kooky space-age robot charms.
L.L.Bean’s ($40) indefatigable Boat and Tote bags provide the ideal canvas (pun intended) for all manner of kitschy beads, playful charms, and that Tamagotchi you still have from the fourth grade.
A truly great gym bag is as stylish as it is practical, and this understated windowpane Nike ($120) number—supercharged with a grip of stretchy paracords and carabiners, perfect for securing water bottles, keys, hats, and other ephemera—delivers on both counts.
Yang-Yi Goh is GQ’s Style Editor.
A version of this story originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of GQ with the title “Charms, Chains, and Tchotchkes”
PRODUCTION CREDITS:
Photographs by Corey Olsen
Styled by Haley Gilbreath and Brandon Tan
Prop styling by Suzy Zietzmann
Special thanks to Trinity Boxing Club
Special thanks to Le District
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