This Season's Best Statement Bags

What’s more, buying vintage requires knowledge of fashion history — a status symbol in itself.

The hottest new bags are what fashion journalist Amy Odell calls “Anti-It” bags. They have no screaming logos or price tags the size of a mortgage payment. They’re sleek and functional. Case in point: Odell’s Lululemon belt bag (the Everywhere Belt Bag, $38).

“Many shoppers simply don’t want the accessory that anyone who has ever seen ‘Sex and the City’ can pick out of a lineup, nor do they want something wealth-signaling,” Odell wrote in her Substack column, Back Row. “They want something that’s good quality, harder to identify, and not marked up as sport. They want an Anti-It Bag.”

At the top of her readers’ list of fave Anti-It Bags: Polène’s Cyme large tote ($630) and DeMellier’s New York work bag ($695).

Both are gorgeous but too pricey for me, so I’d sub in a Patricia Nash tote in a luscious leather, like the popular Liliane model, found on sale at QVC for $237.99 (down from $399) or a quilted MZ Wallace tote ($295) or Latico’s Lindsey tote ($305), or a hobo bag from The Sak (around $150) …or even a classic zip-top canvas bag from L.L. Bean ($59.95).

I often scour TJ Maxx or Nordstrom Rack for deals, but the key thing for me is “cost per wear.” If I carry the same $200 bag all year, that’s a good deal over time.

The right bag for you depends on three things: function, fashion and whimsy. Sure, you can get a black shoulder bag online for under $50 and that may be functional, but it’s also boring. So, let’s try harder…

Function: I’m 70. I need my hands free. That means no clutch bags tucked under my arm or satchels with cute handles that must be grasped with my arthritic fingers. Those bags are all snazzy, and Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) carries several clutch styles in “The Devil Wears Prada 2” — but she has a private car and an entourage.

Real life requires me to depend on straps.

The bag I’ve carried for the past six months is a quilted fabric crossbody, the “Small Crosby Sling” in “light gold pearl metallic” by MZ Wallace. The Crosby retails for $265 but I used a 20-percent-off discount code when I bought mine in May, in preparation for two trips to Europe this year.

I ordered three sling bags to try: one black leather baguette-shaped pouch, the Seeker Sling by Aimee Kestenberg ($198), the MZ Wallace Small Crosby and the Transit bag by Quince ($72), a dupe of the MZ Wallace bag. The Crosby was the clear winner for me because it’s a soft metallic, it’s light at 1 pound, it’s a good size (14.9 inches wide by 6.4 inches high by 2.1 inches wide, small enough to fit inside my tote on a plane), and it drapes well across my body.

The other two options were beautiful but felt puffier. And they were black — practical but lacking pop.

Fashion: I love metallic bags and patent-leather bags — and almost any bag with texture or shine. Nylon bags with lots of zippers serve a function, and I get that, but they are so “all purpose” … they bore me.

(I can’t carry a clutch like Miranda Priestly, but I certainly can dismiss a trend in a snarky fashion like she does.)

Are you a daily purse switcher like Meryl’s Miranda? Or a seasonal switcher? How much do you depend on your bag to make your fashion statement?

Forums like purseblog.com reveal how many fashionistas depend on their bags to do their heavy style lifting. I am not one of those women … I’ll be wearing this MZ Wallace all year — unless I’m going to a special event that requires a boost of whimsy.

Whimsy: Maybe you wouldn’t wear a feather boa. How about a feather-trimmed bag? Handbags can do what clothes can’t. They always fit, and it doesn’t matter if they’re over the top.

My friend Mary Norton designs bags that delight her collectors — and the fashion students she teaches at the Savannah College of Art and Design, who care about “up-cycling” vintage pieces.

Twenty years ago, she had a handbag line called Moo Roo — amusing, embellished bags that jump-started conversations and became coveted by celebs like Miley Cyrus, Sharon Stone and Jennifer Lopez. Her business closed in the recession of 2008. (You can find some spectacular Moo Roo bags on resale sites.)

Mary recently started designing bags again — because, as she told me, she “wanted to bring new life to beautiful bags that had been forgotten.”

She takes vintage bags and adds flourishes to them, and explains it all on Instagram at @MooRooMary.

No logos, no four-figure price tags — just happy bags that stand out for one reason: “A handbag is an extension of the personality of the person wearing it.”

Andy Sachs would second that.