You can bag the right style with the right bag. Bags can transform you into a fashion diva or spell disaster for even your most expensive ensemble. In short, bags can make or mar your style.

“I truly believe that a handbag is the most important accessory as it can make or break an outfit. You could wear the simplest of clothes and yet look like a million bucks with the right handbag,’’ comments Karishma Shahani of Princess K brand of handbags.

Dilip Kapur, president and creative director of Hidesign, agrees with Shahani. He says, “Over the past decade accessories have seen a great revival as wardrobe must haves. Customers have realised that downsizing on clothes’ spending and upgrading on key
accessories like bags completes ones look. Investing in two to three good bags for the season will easily take you from day to evening and formal to casual to dressy, while complementing a range of clothes.’’

Cashing in on this trend are organisations like bagsutra.com, bag4aday.com and designerhandbaghire.com with expensive bags on hire for women who love to flaunt
designer bags but can’t afford to get a new one for every outing. Besides, every season brings its own trend in accessories including bags and to opt for new bags every season becomes cumbersome unless one is a Gauri Khan, Nita or Tina Ambani!

Delhi-based fashion designer Anajana Bhargav, who has started designing bags to suit her clothes line says, “Accessories are a way of stylising and adding value to ensemble. We have launched a line of contemporary bags. I loved designing the bags as much as I did the collection. I believe sporting the right bag can change the look and mood of the garment.’’

Besides high glam-quotient, the plus point of designer bags is the use of superior material and its durability. So, if one invests in three or four good all-season bags, one can keep on reinventing them for many seasons unless one is a Page 3 regular.

“With markets showing greater confidence at present, the feeling is increasingly one of celebration and going out. Glamour, albeit restrained, is the key to the coming autumn winter season. Workbags remain large, but softer and elegant, while small bags for women in beautiful matte metallic colours and studs will also be in vogue. Men will take it easy with briefcases in casual dressy mode,’’ states Kapur.

As Kapur says, “With constant growth in the Asian markets, the Asian customer’s taste has a strong influence on our product range, but the story, the look and the brand values remain the same everywhere. What changes is the product mix and colour options available in different regions.’’

The colours that are more likely to be seen are metallic shades (silver, gunmetal, bronze, gold, and copper), monochromatic tones (black and white), jewel tones (emerald, ruby and amethyst) and pop colours (fuchsia, orange, canary yellow).

Material-wise, there is nothing tobeat handcrafted bags with the finest and purest Italian leather. Of course this would be very heavy on the purse. So a patented leather bag will also do.

For partygoers, Bhargav advises a “Swarovski-studded clutch bag”.