Cleobella takes a slightly more artful look at sequins

Just yesterday, I wondered if maybe a sequin-covered Alice + Olivia hobo was a little too much shine for any one person to pull off. As it turns out, the problem wasn’t the number of sequins – it was the details of the design. Or, more accurately, that it had none.

When I saw the Cleobella Sophia Hobo today, the shortcomings of the Alice + Olivia bag became clear. A whole mess of sequins is perfectly fine, just as long as they’re applied artfully and intelligently. Unfortunately, Alice + Olivia merely covered their entire bag. The order and intricacy of those scallop-patterned Cleobella hobo are what make it appealing, even in the face of a metric ton of paillettes.

The key to this bag is the pattern. Tiny silver beads mark out half-circular edges around the bag, providing a shape and logic to the sequins that fill in the lines. When compared to a bag that’s covered only in sequins of one color, it makes those bags look like giant blobs while this one looks much more refined and careful. The price is high for a sequined bag, but this is still one of the better designs I’ve seen. Buy through ShopBop for $726.