Beach bags used to be an afterthought – something you commandeered from a friend’s summer house or retrieved from the depths of your wardrobe once a year, squashed and misshapen and filled with sand. “That’ll do” was the beach bag mantra. It’s only for the beach, after all. But, if this season is anything to go by, designers have taken them by both straps and shaken them up, in the process converting them into the most-sought after side-kick to suit every situation summer can throw at you – beach, bar and beyond.
Yes, straw keeps getting slicker, and raffia just keeps getting racier but it’s the crafty crotchet, macramé and netted styles that caught our eye on the spring/summer 2019 runways. Chanel’s striped net in juicy shades of pink, green and orange comes with its own quilted logo pouch for hand-luggage size SPFs; meanwhile, Isabel Marant’s cream tasseled macramé style looks chicest against a wardrobe of summer black; and Loewe’s laid-back, oversized tote comes in many iterations – our favourite right now is appliquéd with a Ying & Yang symbol. Here are Vogue’s favourite elevated beach bags to tote across sand, pavement and dancefloor this summer.
Small tubeweave tote, £153, available at Trussnyc.com
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Woven cotton tote, £116, available at Net-a-porter.com
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Large GG Marmont macramé tote bag, £1,760, available at Matchesfashion.com
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Crochet shopper, £39, available at Arket.com
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Macramé tote, £110, available at Net-a-porter.com
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Woven tote, £190, available at Sophieanderson.net
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Woven net bag, £35, available at Stories.com
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Crochet plait handle bag, £12, available at Dorothyperkins.com
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Small fringed macramé and leather shoulder bag, £415, available at Net-a-porter.com
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Blue woven silk blend large tote bag, £215, available at Brownsfashion.com
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Cotton shoulder bag, £340, available at Matchesfashion.com
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Woven raffia tote, £295, available at Net-a-porter.com
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Slit yin yang large bag, £895, available at Loewe.com
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Fringed raffia maxi bag in terracotta, £780, available at Modesens.com
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Seashell net bag, £49.99, available at Mango.com
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Raffia tote, £ 2,790, available at Mytheresa.com