Most of us think of trends as linear—they start, that pick up speed, they peak, they dissipate, and they’re gone. On a long enough timeline, though, most trends are actually cyclical, in that as soon as they’ve finished one journey and seem as though they’re as passé and unresurrectable as possible, that’s actually the moment they start their journey back to prominence.
We’ve seen exactly that arc with logo bags: they were huge in the mid-to-late 2000s, fell out of favor in a major way, and then circa 2014, started to creep back into favor. Now, in early 2018, we’re in the throes of a huge logo bag trend, with brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Fendi and Dior reinvesting in their famous monograms. Those are all extremely high-end designers whose logos, whether worn earnestly or ironically (as is often the case in 2018), signal enormous wealth. Can a contemporary brand pull off the same thing? How about Coach?
For Spring 2018, the brand is trying to make it happen with bags from its Coach 1941 collection, based on the logo jacquard we all remember, adorned with patches and detailing, some of them honoring late artist and AIDS activist Keith Haring. In addition to those embellishments, the bags also retain the neo-Western feel that designer Stuart Vevers has been pursuing since his appointment at Coach.
When I first saw these bags on the runway, I wasn’t sure that bringing back Coach’s logo would even be possible, as a concept. Shoppers feel differently about contemporary brands than premier designer ones, which makes their logos a little harder to sell as a useful element of the kitschy glamor that LV, Gucci and Dior are currently evoking with theirs. Since then, though, I’ve come around a little bit—I think that with the right implementation, it could work, especially as so many shoppers who loved the Coach Cs as teens get to an age in which they have more and more disposable income to indulge themselves.
It remains to be seen if these bags, like the Coach Patchwork Crossbody Bag ($550 via Neiman Marcus) above, will be the ones to do it. Let us know what you think in the comments.
