“Sienna manages to make every man fall head over heels in love with her, and every woman want to be her, as well as to be her best friend,” tells Tod’s creative director Derek Lam to Vogue ahead of the brand’s Fall 2008 campaign featuring Ms. Miller.
“What more can you ask for as the embodiment of the Tod’s philosophy?” he adds.
Indeed, bumping into a Tod’s number on resale these days – and sites like eBay and The RealReal are absolutely teeming with the lot – is perhaps the e-commerce equivalent of encountering some incredibly outfitted stranger on the street.
They strike you not by the virtue of glorified branding but by the sheer magnetism of their own make: velvet-soft skins that plonk into a puddle or glossy patent stretched taut across slick executive silhouettes; something that, no doubt, a mean media mogul would wield as she dragged you to court in a case of defamation.
And much like those glory days of print media lawsuits, Tod’s sturdy, rich satchels now dot the depths of secondhand stores among an assorted mishmash of influencer castoffs and fast fashion trash – easter eggs of an era bygone – at prices that make even the most seasoned bargain-hunters flinch. Yes, they’re that inexpensive.
But if even that weren’t reason enough, here are four more as to why you should get your hands on one ASAP. Happy hunting!
Made in Italy by Italians
Now, while yours truly certainly lacks the demeanor to pull off one of Tod’s more sterner satchels, he is currently eyeing a more utilitarian number with entertainingly useless pockets on eBay as we speak – perfect for a noughties’ diva with a flip-phone or two (or five).
Will he place a bid? Will he be outbid? Will he have an irrational urge to – erm – use the facilities last minute and miss the sale?
It’s a delicious conundrum.
Not as delicious, however, as the bag itself: buttery soft and sumptuously tan, almost as if some ancient Italian gentleman had been tanning the hide by hand himself.
And therein lies the magic of Tod’s, for that was almost certainly the case here. Founded in the early 1900s by Filippo Della Valle as a quaint little cobbler’s workshop in Casette D’Ete in northern Italy, Tod’s was transformed into the multi-national multihyphenate it is today by Filippo’s grandson, Diego.
Today the patriarch overseeing its sweeping white offices in Le Marche devoid of a computer or iPhone, Diego, having grown up napping on beds of animal hides and helping his father, Dorino, at the factory floor outside of school hours, still runs the brand like an Old World family business (Dorino, now 85, occasionally hobbles into its expansive modernist atelier with his silver-knobbed cane).
When asked why, he’s quick to answer, “We don’t take risks. We want to guarantee our customers we’re giving them the best.”
Its Name May or May Not Have Come From a Phonebook
When former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi accused Della Valle of having “skeletons in his closet,” he may or may not have been referring to the popular urban legend of Tod’s deriving its name from a Boston, Massachusetts phonebook.
He may have also been referring to his left-wing affiliations. Hard to tell, really.
What is true, however, is that once Diego took over the reins of the family business in the ’70s, its days as an artisanal, hand-cobbled shoemaker were numbered, with the establishment of its first industrial entity, Calzaturificio Della Valle D.S.p.A, manufacturing for American department stores like Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue as well as Azzedine Alaïa, Geoffrey Beene, and Gianfranco Ferre.
Then, in the ’80s, Diego himself showed up in New York with a trunk full of shoe samples (and a dream). That dream culminated in 1984 in the form of J.P. Tod’s, an easy-to-pronounce American name that Mr. Della Valle has since denied pilfering from a phonebook. Of course, that’s entirely believable.
By 1999, though, as the brand had begun gaining recognition as simply ‘J.P.’ in the US, Della Valle decided to drop the initials and just go by Tod’s.
And that’s it for today’s history lesson, folks.
The Royal Stamp of Approval
Kidding! There’s more to Tod’s past, and it’s now that we get to the interesting part.
You see, Tod’s was first and foremost a shoemaker, its claim to fame the moccasin-like driving loafer, the Gommino, a scandalously high-low affair fashioned out of luxurious leather and 133 little rubber gummy nubs, considered cheap and déclassé at the time. And its emphasis on comfort meant that it had soon ventured beyond the dry realm of driving onto the glamorously cosmopolitan feet of everyone from Fiat titan Gianni Agnelli, Princess Stéphanie of Monaco, and President John F. Kennedy to Plum Sykes, Uma Thurman, and Gwyneth Paltrow.
In the ’90s, however, it was an endorsement from Princess Diana herself—long before giving away swag to influencers had become mainstream—that turned the tides for Tod’s. Of course, it was already royally approved—King Juan Carlos of Spain allegedly “spent hours talking about shoes.”
But the Lady went beyond the loafers to be spotted with the brand’s now unmistakable D bag, which was later renamed the “Di” bag in honor of Diana.
Launched in 1997, her camel number went equally well with those ladylike lilac skirt suits or decidedly more casual (and entirely un-royal) rugby gym tops – even making a cameo on her trip to Pakistan! And while the exact same silhouette can now be had on TheRealReal for $100 or less (!), it subsequently came out in five different sizes and six redesigns atop the arms of starlets as far and wide as Anne Hathaway, Nicole Kidman, Monica Bellucci, Naomi Campbell, and Taylor Swift!
Surely, these girls must all be onto something?
Surprisingly Fresh (Even Today!)
For AW24, creative director Matteo Tamburini reinterpreted the original ’90s Di design with winged tips (like a butterfly) and a spacious silhouette in a campaign fronted by Irina Shayk. Shayk also appears in a short film featuring an earlier rendition dubbed the D-Styling, with a focus on the function and form of the Di bag, aptly titled “My Life Is in This Bag.”
And for an entirely new slew of starlets like Jenna Ortega, the Duchess of Cambridge, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kendall Jenner, and NCT’s Jungwoo (alongside veterans like Jessica Chastain and Cate Blanchett), the Di, now retailing for upwards of $3,000, remains in repeated rotation.
Yet, the OG from the ’90s, originally retailing for $1,450 and requiring nine to twelve months to manufacture for the naturally aging of its Vachetta—not to mention with over-the-shoulder practicality and capacity for your hefty portfolios—remains a force to be reckoned with. The leather is lush, the silhouette sleek, and they look and feel expensive without instantly giving themselves away.
Or perhaps you fancy the Gommini bag, with embossed rubber pebbles reminiscent of those quintessentially Tod’s loafers – not a logo in sight?
In fact, I’d go on to argue that in an age when the principles of low-key luxury have been butchered so brazenly on TikTok (although banning it is NOT the answer), an anonymous Tod’s carryall of vintage veneer is truly the epitome of stealth wealth (*cringes inwardly*).
Like something you stumbled upon while rummaging through your grandpa’s closet brimming with ’80s power suits, it’s the embodiment of a father figure (or perhaps a bodyguard, judging by those Kevlar-strong leathers) in purse form. They’re innately imbued with an old-worldly oomph when so much of luxury feels (and judging by the numbers, is) sluggish.
After all, what could be a better conversation starter than that?
Tod’s handbags are wonderfully crafted. Having found several at consignment shops (bargains!), they are a staple of my ever-evolving bag wardrobe. Styling is classic…some of the bags are over 2 decades. This is an under-appreciated line.
I love their bags but they are often mistaken for Tory Burch, both having a large T logo