For most women, the prospect of possessing a £35,000 handbag is a glorious pipe dream. But if they did own such an expensive item, they’d likely treat it with care – particularly if it was a Hermes Kelly.
Like its close relation the Birkin, which was designed much later in 1984, the Kelly (named after actress Grace Kelly) is one of the most coveted and hard-to-purchase handbags in the pantheon, on whose waiting lists even the wealthiest customers can languish for years.
Were they ever fortunate enough to have a fabled Kelly, you’d best believe they’d treat it with more deference than their pet – and possibly even their children. They might take it to a cafe, but it would have its own chair to avoid blemishing its pristine leather underside. What they certainly wouldn’t do is take it to a beach.
Unless, that is, they are Kate Moss. The 51-year-old supermodel was recently spotted in Ibiza, blithely walking across the sand toting a brown leather Kelly, as though cheap local basket bags didn’t exist and the trend for cloth bags-for-life never happened.
Dressed in a beige bikini, a white peasant blouse, oversized sunglasses and a slew of chunky bangles, Moss looked like any other holidaymaker – bar her fiendishly expensive arm candy.
But Moss is just the latest in a long line of celebrities who seem to have repurposed Churchill’s famous war cry and made it into their own. Indeed, when it comes to designer handbags, ‘We will flaunt them on the beaches!’ is shaping up to be something of a summer mantra.
Whisper it, but the ultimate status symbol isn’t a gym-honed body or a subtle facelift: it’s an expensive handbag that you’re willing to trash.
No matter that sand is a ruinously abrasive substance that will scratch its delicate leather hide and leave gritty residues in each of its corners – you have hundreds more handbags at home, and can afford to ruin one or two so long as it means your gloopy, greasy SPF30 is carried in fine style.
Kate Moss with her £35,000 Hermes Kelly on a beach in Ibiza. Moss is just the latest in a long line of celebrities who seem to have repurposed Churchill’s famous war cry and made it into their own
Model and actress Emily Ratajkowski opts for a large Gucci Giglio tote worth £1,600
Dua Lipa with a £4,930 Chanel 25 bag to match her bangles and gold leopard print bikini
As for which four-figure tote to choose, opinion – and taste – is divided. Model and actress Emily Ratajkowski favours a large Gucci Giglio tote, costing £1,600, in highly stainable monogrammed canvas. Actress Dakota Johnson, 35, raises the stakes even higher with a bamboo-handled eau de nil shopper from Gucci’s autumn/winter 2025 collection that isn’t even available to buy yet.
For the singer Dua Lipa, 29, it’s a £4,930 Chanel 25 handbag in gold, a popular choice thanks to its slouchy silhouette and numerous pockets.
Other celebrities carrying expensive leather bags on their seaside holidays include sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Naomi Campbell, whose tiny white Hermes Birkin would struggle to fit a smartphone, never mind a towel.
Last week, Lauren Sanchez Bezos, 55, was seen tottering along a pebble beach in Ibiza wearing sky-high heels, a white crochet dress and a cream Schiaparelli Mini Bijoux Secret bag worth £5,000. This summer she’s also been spotted holidaying with a £15,000 Lady Dior Mini, as well as a tan suede Anahi bag by Isabel Marant, worth £890.
Colombian and American actress Sofia Vergara with a £4,120 YSL raffia tote bag in Ibiza last month
American actress Dakota Johnson with next season’s eau de nil shopper from Gucci
Margot Robbie has traded filming Wuthering Heights on the bleak Yorkshire moors for the sunny Balearic islands with a La Croisiere model
Lauren Sanchez Bezos struggling on a a rocky beach in Ibiza wearing sky-high heels and carrying a cream £5,000 Schiaparelli Mini Bijoux Secret bag along with her husband Jeff
Clearly, this is small change to the newly minted Mrs Bezos. When you are married to one of the world’s richest men, it wouldn’t do to rock up to the beach with a tatty wicker basket.
While practicality and fashion have never been cosy bedfellows, it’s especially puzzling to put your soggy swimsuit into a heavy leather tote given designers have been offering holiday-friendly wardrobes ever since the advent of their Cruise collections.
It was Coco Chanel who first introduced Cruise (also known as ‘resort’) in 1919, designing capsule collections of light dresses and knits for wealthy clients who would holiday in Biarritz.
In the intervening years, the Cruise collections have only grown in size and prominence – as has the choice of beach bags offered by luxury brands keen to cash in on vacation style.
Rare is the designer who doesn’t offer a wicker beach bag emblazoned with its logo, the most popular of which, Loewe’s £775 Anagram tote, is as ubiquitous a sight in St Tropez, Marbella and Ibiza as an Aperol Spritz (and only marginally less of a summer cliche).
Which is probably why the chicest vacationers have swapped stiff straw for slouchier raffia.
The actress Margot Robbie, 35, was recently spotted in Ibiza with a £560 circular La Croisiere bag by cult French label Jacquemus.
Meanwhile, Modern Family actress Sofia Vergara, 53, has sported a £4,120 raffia Icare bag, by Yves Saint Laurent, this summer.
While they may be only marginally more affordable than their wintery leather counterparts, at least these summer bags are lighter to carry and more forgiving of stains.
Then again, when even Jane Birkin used her namesake Hermes bag to carry everything from nail clippers to nappies, perhaps its natural evolution is to be worn insouciantly on a beach.
