Savvy

Bag For Your Buck: The ONE by Ampersand as Apostrophe Half Tote

Fashion Week, with all its lavish parties, decked-out street style looks and high school-cafeteria-on-steriods seating arrangements, can make even someone pretty flush with cash feel like a bit of a pauper. Seriously, where (and how) do people get all this stuff? After a few seasons of the circus, you also start to ask why anyone thinks they need it, and at that point a bag like the ONE by Ampersand as Apostrophe Half Tote becomes pretty attractive.

Fashion swings from one extreme to the other like the weightiest of pendulums, and minimalism – especially in accessories, where things are easily taken to their most maximal – is a natural response to the nearly baroque levels of embellishment we’ve seen recently. Everyone’s eyes need a break from trying to figure out how they’re supposed to focus when met with a bag covered in python, studs and fur, and thankfully, this is the sort of visual break that can also help out your wallet. A simple, well-executed, sharp leather bag doesn’t have to cost a fortune because it doesn’t require the extra man hours needed to make crocodile look like leopard or whatever.

That’s why Celine’s extremely simple Cabas totes struck such a chord, and it’s likely why people are still asking me on Twitter where they can get Mansur Gavriel’s unlined, hardware-free, solid-color shoulder bags. This Ampersand as Apostrophe tote, part of ShopBop’s exclusive ONE line, carries on those bags’ aesthetic ideas. For less than $350, you get an all-leather tote that’s handmade in the US, and the unfinished edges, unlined suede interior and half-hidden, half-exposed (hence the bag’s name) stitching provide all the design details you could need. Every inch of the bag is purposeful and considered, which seems like the ultimate luxury.

Buy through ShopBop for $330 in grey, black and brown.

ONE by Ampersand as Apostrophe Half Tote Black

ONE by Ampersand as Apostrophe Half Tote Brown

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