Global Sacking

SHOPPING BAGS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

What with Liza Bruce's ample bare chest and Kosuke Tsumura's doomsday message, the latest shopping bags want to be held— and then some. Herein, a roundup of today's portable status symbols—from Paris to Los Angeles, from the perennial to the cutting-edge.

—EVGENIA PERETZ

The Bluebloods

From Barneys' little-black-bagness to the dignified stripes of Henri Bendel and Paul Smith, to the understated logo of Hermes, this is the Ivy League of shopping bags. They've got nothing to prove and they'll never give in to fads. True, Acqua di Parma's flagship store is in Milan, but this design is so handsome it may just be the gold standard for international class. (Furthermore, Acqua di Parma does not mean "ham water." It is a cologne and Cary Grant wore it.) Finally, there's Pucci's clever necktie bag, which harks back to so much whimsical 50s glamour that you'll feel like a character from Funny Face. Even if the tie is for yourself.

Le J'Aime

Just pick up a shopping bag from Fifi Chachnil or Bonpoint and you may consider getting that little white poodle after all. Because let's face it, even though both Bonpoint and Petit Bateau sell des petites choses pour les enfants, the bags say nothing if not aging sex kitten, boudoir-bound. And for the daughters, there's the polka-dot number from Colette, a hip je ne sais quo/ boutique in Paris that sells everything from high-tech Nikes to Yves Saint Laurent.

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Featuring breasts, thighs, fur, animal print, and, yes, the actual word Whistles, these eye-catching shopping bags are sure to attract lots of hoots from construction workers— and perhaps a snarl or two from politically correct pedestrians. While Fendi goes all out for 1980s-style flash, with glossy photographs of its own luxury items splashed across the bag, Liza Bruce, the London swimwear and ready-to-wear designer, opts for something more, er, artsy.

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Shopping in London can be downright spooky. Connolly's bag may look simple, but note that no address appears on it anywhere. (The shop is, if you will, a secret society of fine leather and accessories.) Voyage's Gothic-looking logo is a good indication of how you feel when you're in the exclusive shop: watched. And, much like the designer himself, Alexander McQueen's shopping bag looks as if it were conceived in a dungeon. But it's Kosuke Tsumura's bag from Final Home, his new store in New York, that hits the macabre mother lode: constructed of waterproof material, this easy-to-tote sack asks for date of birth, emergency contact, and blood type.

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They may look minimalist, but they have plenty of eccentricities. Take the London handbag store Anya Hindmarsh. This boutique provides you with two bags on the house: a striped shopping bag and an inner cotton "dust bag" bag (designed to "protect" the handbag you just purchased), which is currently the rage among London girls heading out of town. The shopping bag from the New York boutique stream looks so sleek and simple you may not notice that the handle resembles an IV tube. Like Takashimaya, New York's Kirna Zabete offers a triangular shopping bag, as edgy as its clothes. Thanks to its lack of room and uncomfortable cutout handle, it couldn't be less convenient. In other words, very hip.