There is a particular breed of luxury fashion enthusiast who is personally offended by the idea of a woman taking an expensive bag that is not technically designed to be a purse and, well, using it as a purse. The latest offenders? Anyone turning Hermès Bride-a-Brac pouches and Bolide cosmetic cases, or Chanel makeup bags into their go-to everyday handbag. To these particular fashion enthusiasts, doing such a thing is basically committing a fashion felony.
The argument is that these products are not real handbags. That wearing a cosmetic case on your shoulder is “tacky” and that it cheapens the brand as a whole (presumably for those who can afford the usually even pricier actual bags). But why does it matter?
The Hermès Bride-a-Brac, for example, was originally designed as a wash bag or travel pouch. It has a structured canvas body, a wide-opening zippered top, and it is perfectly suited to hold all the things women actually carry around with them: A phone, cardholder, sunglasses, keys, lip products, and whatever other miscellaneous objects that accumulate in the bottom of a purse.
There is also something particularly funny about the outrage of women repurposing these bags when you consider the history of luxury handbags themselves. The Hermès Evelyne began as a grooming bag for horse equipment, designed with perforations to allow brushes to dry. The Louis Vuitton Noé was originally created to carry bottles of champagne. These are now some of the most recognizable luxury bags in the world.
Even the mythology surrounding the Birkin has always been rooted in the idea of a bag that is meant to be lived in. Jane Birkin largely saw the staple piece as an everyday work bag meant to be heavily used and filled to the brim. The original vision was not necessarily some precious object to be locked away in a dust bag and admired from across the bedroom. So it actually makes perfect sense for people to use their makeup bags as purses, if they so please.
This idea that people shouldn’t do this because it’s “tacky” quickly reveals the class politics hiding underneath so much of the fashion industry. Luxury has become wrapped up in exclusivity that people have started treating the products themselves as elitist identifiers. Owning the right bag, wearing the right logo, and knowing the unwritten rules of fashion are all supposedly proof that you belong to a certain world. And when someone finds a creative way to participate without following the exact spending requirements, it seems to make certain people very uncomfortable.
I will never forget sitting at a large dinner table when another fashion editor asked me when I was finally going to invest in a “real designer bag,” suggesting that my $400 Coach purse simply wasn’t good enough. I remember asking her, quite sincerely, whether she planned on buying it for me if it was such a pressing concern. She didn’t have an answer, but I’ll never forget how it made me feel. That fashion and personal style has a price tag we all aren’t meant to meet.
You can love Hermès and still think a Bride-a-Brac makes a great everyday bag. You can appreciate Chanel’s history and still think a cosmetic pouch looks adorable with a chain strap. These ideas are not mutually exclusive.
Women have been repurposing pieces in their closets forever. We have quite literally always done things like turn belts into necklaces, oversized shirts into dresses, and whatever else happens to be lying around into something worth wearing. Fashion and improvisation go hand in hand. Some of the most interesting personal style I’ve seen comes from people who aren’t particularly concerned with whether an item was originally intended to be worn a certain way. A bag is a bag if it holds your things and you like carrying it. People are making this much more complicated than it needs to be.
Moreover, I also don’t believe in pocket-watching. Not everyone has thousands of dollars to spend on a handbag, and they shouldn’t feel obligated to. If someone’s luxury budget allows for a Chanel makeup bag rather than a classic flap bag, and they decide to put a strap on it and carry it to dinner, where exactly is the problem? If anything, I find it entertaining to see someone get creative with what they already own.
At the end of the day, there are so many bigger things going on in the world. None of this is that serious. A makeup bag can be a purse. A scarf can be a belt. A skirt can be a top. And a woman does not need the approval of someone else to wear what she wants how she wants to wear it.
Aiyana Ishmael is the style editor at Cosmopolitan magazine. In her work, Aiyana focuses on the culture of fashion and how it intertwines and shapes the zeitgeist. She is an award-winning journalist from Miami, Florida, and a graduate of the historically Black university, Florida A&M. She is a 2024 Forbes 30 Under 30: Media honoree, and her debut romance novella PASSING GAME is set to release March of 2027 (831 Stories/Simon & Schuster).
