A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a rather critical review of the Derek Lam Elsa Python Clutch with which not everyone agreed. And that’s fine; opinions are like…well, nevermind what they’re like! But there’s no bag upon which everyone will agree, and that’s just the nature of the beast.
But I thought it would be an interesting exercise in criticism to find a bag that does right what that clutch does so wrong: asymmetry. And I didn’t have to look for long, because the Alexander McQueen Faithful Leather Tote is full of non-symmetrical goodness that I can definitely appreciate. This tote works better because it appears as though all the details – flaps, zippers, snaps – could serve some sort of functional purpose as well as working as a design element. The trick is to make a bag whose design springs out of the essential elements of a usable bag, and McQueen does a fantastic job of that with this tote. Everything has a purpose, and there’s no random stuff stuck on just to be cute. I’m not an enormous fan of the bag’s squarish shape, but the other elements are done very well, so I can overlook it. Can you? Buy through Net-a-Porter for $2295.
