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Being a modern woman means having more opportunities available than ever before. But that doesn’t mean that people aren’t watching everything that you do, just waiting for you to slip up.
Being put together means having a solid and confident grip on your clothing choices and your accessorizing. This is a great way to really make the outfits you already have a pop. A good Handbag can make an old outfit look brand new, and those results increase significantly as you add more Handbag and outfit combinations.
It can be hard to keep up with the current trends, but it can also be hard to know the rules you can follow to pick out the hottest handbag for your look. Fortunately, you can break down the process of shopping into a number of categories, just like you would with the search filters in an online storefront.
And with that understanding in place, you can start narrowing down your options and seeking out Handbags that are catered specifically to your sense of self.
Picking The Right Handbag For Your Body
The downside of any body type is that not every Handbag is going to look the best on everyone. The upside is that there’s a rich selection of Handbags available, so you shouldn’t have much difficulty finding a Handbag that both fits your body and checks off most of your other important considerations. Flattering fashion is all about lines and silhouettes. With the right bag, your existing outfit can have its best qualities (and your best qualities, by proxy) accentuated.
But what does that mean in practice? Generally, it means turning attention away from, rather than towards, your most prominent features. This will create a better sense of overall balance to the shape of your silhouette.
That means if you’re busty, you’ll want to avoid crossbody bags that will need to stretch across your bust, and women with wider hips should generally steer clear of bags that go across the length of the hip and instead focus on Handbags that are measured against the waist.
Similarly, shorter and more petite women will want shorter straps to match their height. Proper handbags that attach to the wrist will only increase the dainty elegance of your figure.
Full-bodied women, by contrast, should seek out medium-sized bags that will create a sense of harmony with their more pronounced curves, and taller women will want to minimize Handbags that elongate their look and instead opt for Handbags like hobo bags with chunkier looks, bigger designs, and shorter straps.
Make Comfort A Priority
One of the best ways for a Handbag to spruce up your look and make you the center of attention is to make you comfortable. Confidence is hot, and confidence is ultimately going to come down to finding a Handbag that feels right matched with your outfit. But finding that confident place also means making sure it’s equipped for the task at hand.
Break things down into pragmatic terms and ask yourself squarely, “What is this Handbag for?” If you’re looking for something to wear into work and help with regular presentations, a Handbag that gives you ready access to your tech is going to matter a lot more than designer branding. At a gala event, a smaller clutch that complements your existing outfit will better suit your needs.
You want to find a Handbag that’s large enough to hold everything you might readily need while not being so bulky that it’s hard to carry. Especially pay attention to the weight of it. While chunkier and more ostentatious bags are in style in the fall months, there’s no use investing in a bag with way more space and significantly more pockets than you’re ever going to find yourself using.
Match To Suit Your Outfit
If we haven’t hammered the point home yet, functionality is just as important as form when seeking out the best Handbag. But you need to use that same level of pragmatism when picking out the color or patterning for a Handbag. If you find yourself wearing dark suits five days out of the week, for instance, you might find yourself pretty limited with a new pastel duffel.
But fashion restrictions aren’t as tight as they used to be, and you have a pretty wide amount of leverage when it comes to coordinating your Handbag with your outfits. The standard rules of color theory apply here. If you have a brighter and more vibrant outfit, look for a subdued color on the opposite side of the wheel or adjacent to your outfit for your Handbag. Things are similarly easy when matching a Handbag to a pattern.
Pick the least prominent color within the pattern and go with a solid Handbag of the most similar color you can find.
If you’re willing to get bolder with it, you can try going with contrasting colors. Black and white or black and gray or primary and secondary color schemes can really make you stand out from the rest of the pack and really make the most of a vividly hued bag. What you shouldn’t do, if you’re looking to stand out, is match your Handbag to your shoes.
While that was the ongoing trend for a time, it’s seen as a boring alternative to more complex options these days. Shoes and makeup should be similarly colored but distinct. If you need a starting point for coordination, begin with your hair and coloring. Since it will be the one constant across all of your outfits, you can use it as an anchor for all of your coloring schemes. Seasonal appropriateness should be a secondary if not tertiary concern.
Coloring is important, but so is context. We talked earlier about finding a bag that’s functional, and you should definitely pay attention here. Gym clothes and more sporty outfits really benefit from a crossbody bag that can leave your hands and arms free, while a clutch is traditional for formal events. In these types of instances, the Handbag is more important as a style accessory for your outfit than it is as a tool for actually holding your things.
Sometimes Overstated Is Better
There’s a big push towards sustainability in the fashion world currently, and sometimes, a little bit shabby is in. Maybe it’s a symptom of Coronavirus and shelter at home orders, but it’s cool again to be comfortable. And one of the best ways to bolster your BoHo cred is with a classic leather or canvas bag. They can coordinate with just about everything, and they continue to be in style with regularity.
Just make sure not to toe the line too closely between “shabby chic” and just plain shabby. A distressed canvas hobo bag or weathered messenger bag can make you look like a thoughtful academic and really shine the spotlight on your new seasonal scarves. But a hobo bag with holes, wear, and tear is not just going to not be very functional, and it’ll make you look disheveled. Loose and baggy leather is in, though, and that’s unlikely to change in the near future.
Get Exotic With A Statement Piece
So what if you don’t want to blow away a new client with your level of professionalism, and you instead just want to show off? The hardware can make all of the difference in the world. Chains are back in style in the world of Handbags, and there’s a lot of variety there to show off your style.
Whether it’s chunkier and brightly painted chains that give off a cool urban vibe or a sleek and meticulously crafted chain for your handbag, chains can bring a seriously modern sense of style to a bag and an outfit.
If you’re looking to really stand out, you can also look at textiles from more exotic materials. Today’s designers are doing very creative work with textiles, and that comes in the form of everything from super-soft quilting to braided leather. Exotic materials come in a variety of forms too. Python, crocodile, alligator, and ostrich leather are all familiar enough to accessorize well, but they have their own distinct texturing and patterns that distinguish them clearly from a more traditional cowhide.
Test A Handbag Out On Existing Clothes
It can be hard to know how a Handbag will look with a given outfit or in a given circumstance without seeing it firsthand. That might not make a big difference when picking up a cheap Handbag, but the last thing you should be doing is wasting money on a statement piece without knowing whether or not you’ll really like it.
If you have the opportunity to try out your Handbag before you make a purchase, take notes of which outfits it would work with and try them on firsthand. Having your Handbag sent to your house for a test drive is ideal, but there’s no shame in bringing a few outfits to the store to get a feel for how well a Handbag will integrate into your wardrobe.
Are you looking for a Handbag you can wear all year long? In that case, you’ll definitely want to bring a coat. Unless you live in a purely tropical clime, it will tell you exactly how it’s going to look even on the coldest days. If it’s a Handbag that is likely to get more use in the middle of summer, see how it looks in short sleeves.
Testing a Handbag against summer clothes is especially important because more of your body is on display. This is a circumstance where considering your body type and using that as a guiding principle for your Handbag design can be crucial.
Consider Stacking Your Bags
Chances are that you don’t have just one Handbag in your collection— but you don’t just have to pick or choose one for a given day. A clutch can slip into a larger and less formal Handbag and work capably as a wallet or pocketbook. A casual tote can work just as well for carrying groceries as it can for toting your necessities too and from the office.
There’s no shame in carrying two or even more Handbags— and there’s no shame in swapping them out of mixing and matching them on the fly. Take an inventory of the bags you have now. Figure out where they work best, what clothes they coordinate well with, and what gaps you’re potentially missing in your wardrobe.
Then consider how you could repurpose existing Handbags to fill those gaps. If you take a full inventory of what you want and what you need, the best course of action will appear clearer.
Weigh The Price Tag
When you’re looking for a hot handbag, you need to ask yourself whether you want something that’s hot for this season or hot in the long term— and that can guide you through the process of picking the right price. If it will end up in the back of your closet or at the thrift store by this time next year, go cheaper. If it’s going to be a lynchpin of your outfit and can be adapted to suit a variety of outfits, saving a bit of money to make an investment isn’t a bad idea at all.
The handbags that are hot at the moment are going to change every few months, but what’s genuinely going to make a Handbag hot or not is the confidence and satisfaction you have in it. Look at what you need, consider what you want, and don’t be afraid to experiment with styles.
You might find a new part of your identity you haven’t really explored, or you might realize that a seemingly one-note bag could actually coordinate with a big part of your wardrobe in a variety of creative ways. But most importantly, don’t let your bag overwhelm your natural profile. Pick the bag that will fully highlight who you are without covering it up.
Sources:
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/trends/g985/handbag-style-0210/?slide=4
