What’s Up With All These Teeny-Tiny Micro Bags?

Fashion is a industry where things are often taken to their logical extremes. While some women are likely still paying off their orthopedic bills from the enormous bag trend of the late 2000s, things have now swung back firmly in the other direction; brands of all types are now making bags that are small enough to be considered decorative accessories for other bags.

For brands, the upside to these tiny bags are twofold. First, they provide entry-level customers a way to buy one of the brand’s bags without quite hitting the price tag of a normal-sized designer purse, but they don’t do the kind of damage to a brand’s air of exclusivity that monogram canvas bags at lower price points tend to. It’s a “special little piece,” not a less-expensive, logo-covered canvas bag.

Second, these bags provide a new product tier for the highest-end customers. If you’re already a devoted buyer of Fendi bags, for example, then why wouldn’t you buy an adorable little miniature to hang from the new spring bag you’re already buying? At a certain consumer level, adding another $1,500 to a purchase price doesn’t make people blink, especially if it makes a customer feel like she’s getting something extra and ultra-fashionable.

For the consumers who fall in between those two groups, though, these bags are just bags, and that means they’re all intended to carry stuff in some way, shape or form. At this size, they do that with varying levels of success. Because my ultimate arbiter of whether or not I can carry a bag is if my enormous iPhone 6 Plus can fit inside, that’s the rule I used to measure all of the ultra-tiny bags below. It’s 6.22 inches tall, so that’s where I drew the line.

(Side note: If you’re trying to decide between the 6 or 6 Plus, my advice is to go big or go home. I have super tiny hands. You’ll get used to it.)

Cambridge Satchel Company
$105 via ShopBop

Length on the long edge: 6.25 inches
Would my iPhone 6 Plus fit: With .03 inches to spare.

Chloé Mini Suede Shoulder Bag
$750 via LUISAVIAROMA

Length on the long edge: 7 inches
Would my iPhone 6 Plus fit: Maybe? Curved bags require more math than I remember from 8th grade geometry.

Christian Louboutin Sweet Charity Spikes Bag
$1,594 via MATCHESFASHION.COM

Length on the long edge: 6 inches
Would my iPhone 6 Plus fit: If I cut a little off, yes.

Diane von Furstenberg 440 Micro Mini Bag
$158 via MATCHESFASHION.COM

Length on the long edge: 6 inches
Would my iPhone 6 Plus fit: Let’s be honest, it’s always in my hand anyway.

Dolce & Gabbana Jeans Dauphine Shoulder Bag
$1,195 via LUISAVIAROMA

Length on the long edge: 7 inches
Would my iPhone 6 Plus fit: Yes! But nothing else. Just the iPhone. Good luck to me on getting back into my apartment.

Fendi Micro Monster Baguette
$1,400 via Nordstrom

Length on the long edge: 5.5 inches
Would my iPhone 6 Plus fit: I mean, physical space is a construct.

Fendi Micro Peekaboo Bag
$1,550 via Nordstrom

Length on the long edge: 6 inches
Would my iPhone 6 Plus fit: Yes, assuming I used this as a bag charm on a larger bag that actually held my phone.

Furla Candy Bon Bon Mini Bag
$148 via ShopBop

Length on the long edge: 6.25 inches
Would my iPhone 6 Plus fit: Are you sure about those measurements, ShopBop?

MCM Rabbit Print Canteen Bag
$650 via ShopBop

Length on the long edge: 6.25 inches
Would my iPhone 6 Plus fit: These curves are really harshing my game here.

Moschino Mini Quilted Backpack
$1,121 via MATCHESFASHION.COM

Length on the long edge: 6 inches
Would my iPhone 6 Plus fit: I could probably wedge it in there.

Moschino Mini Quilted Shoulder Bag
$795 via LUISAVIAROMA

Length on the long edge: 2.56 inches
Would my iPhone 6 Plus fit: LOL.

Mulberry Mini Lily Bag
$590 via LUISAVIAROMA

Length on the long edge: 5.9 inches
Would my iPhone 6 Plus fit: Nah.

Rebecca Minkoff Mini Love Crossbody Bag
$195 via ShopBop

Length on the long edge: 6.75 inches
Would my iPhone 6 Plus fit: Probably!

Saint Laurent Mini Cassandre Crossbody Bag
$1,550 via Nordstrom

Length on the long edge: 6.5 inches
Would my iPhone 6 Plus fit: Hedi Slimane doesn’t care because all of his rockstar muses have people to carry their phones for them.