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Ms. Newkirk is not in the minority. “In the beginning, the world seemed to stop altogether,” said Hallie Spradlin, director of accessories at Fashion Snoops, a trend-forecasting agency. But by last summer, cooped-up men and women “were looking for a mood boost…and started investing in mailer bag.” Yumi Shin, chief merchant of New York department store Bergdorf Goodman, called handbags “pandemic proof”—particularly, she added, when they’re in perky hues like tangerine or neon green. Perhaps that’s because they represent optimism: Buying a bag designed to tote essentials between home, school, the office and even the airport suggests that we’ll soon return to some version of our bustling former lives. Paul-Sebastian Japaz, a New York painter, said he began building “an arsenal” of bags last summer. His buys range from Telfar’s vegan Shopping Bag to an as-yet-unused leather Prada tote. Mr. Japaz, 29, cheerily called it the “back-to-school bag.”

However, as our lifestyles have shifted, so too have our handbag tastes. The awkwardly bulky, top-handle work bags so prevalent pre-pandemic have been ousted by smaller, more versatile options that facilitate a lighter existence. Giana Ballard, 29, who owns a New York photography studio, recently splurged on a canvas Balenciaga bag with a long shoulder strap. Before the pandemic, she used different travel duffel bags for day and night, work and play. Now she wears her roughly 8-inch-tall bucket bag (which fits her iPhone, camera, lipstick and a crucial can of pamplemousse LaCroix) for morning walks, afternoon errands and outdoor dinners. Once she needs to carry heftier cargo like, say, a laptop, again, Ms. Ballard plans to team her modest new pal with a roomier tote.

The appeal of the bag's creative potential to artists is evident as far back as the 1930s

The witty and innovative designs from the 19th Century, which included lunch cooler bags in the shape of flower baskets, scallop shells and pineapples, influenced the trend for the incongruous objects which appeared in bag design in the 1930s. Designers such as Anne-Marie of Paris created wonderfully eccentric bags in the shape of telephones, champagne coolers and even radios.

To have and to hold

These experiments have included Bethan Laura Wood's series of interchangeable handles for Valextra's Iside and wine packaging bags, and Marc Quinn's designs for the Lady Dior bag. Wood's quirky aesthetic, inspired by Eduardo Paolozzi and realised in shades of Neapolitan ice-cream and sludgy 70s interiors, transforms the somewhat austere bags into modern poppy icons. 

A Himalaya Birkin, sold at Christie's in Hong Kong in 2017, broke the world record for the most expensive bag ever sold at auction when it went for an astonishing £293,000. "This particular piece is adorned with 18-carat white gold and diamond hardware. It was really more than just a bag. It was also a piece of jewellery. It's like a wearable work of art," says Koffsky.

It is clearly an astronomical amount to spend on a handbag but, it appears, money well spent. "After the recession in 2008 customer spending was way down. However some bags, like the Hermès Birkin, continued to hold their value so collectors began to invest this amount of money," explains Koffsky. "Collectors' taste has changed and now they're looking at laundry bags as something that's an asset rather than just a fashion item." Indeed, according to a recent report by Art Market Research, Birkins have increased in value even more than Banksys.