What makes a bag desirable? Beyond the brand, how can we explain the incredible success of certain models and their unwavering desirability? This was the question posed by research and consulting firm Promise Consulting and investment firm Bernstein, when they questioned 309 French women.
The aim of the study, carried out by Promise Consulting among CSP+ women, was toevaluate a hundred or so models according to 3 criteria: notoriety, desirability and exclusivity. Underlying all this is the strategy inherent in every brand: how do you make an icon of a bag?
The power of a name
The success of a bag model can hardly be studied in isolation from the brand itself, whose financial and marketing power, as well as its image, are essential contributors. Product quality, the promotion of know-how, frequent and influential communication, controlled, agile distribution, the renewal or creation of prestigious flagships, collaborations with artists (collections) or fashionable architects (flagships) undeniably contribute to the success of the models.
Hermès, Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Dior dominate the ranking
The 4 Houses share the top 10 places in the ranking. What their designs have in common is that they have brought a new aesthetic to handbags, while remaining within the perimeter of a style capable of enduring, far removed from ephemeral and sometimes overly disruptive trends. They correspond to the tastes of a French clientele that prefers timeless classics to fanciful or eccentric bags (these models are found at the bottom of the ranking), with rigid or semi-rigid leathers and rectangular shapes, suggesting a certain harmony and a conception of elegance à la française. The simplicity of the model does not exclude its role as a status symbol. The branded luxury bag, a marker of good taste and social affluence, retains its rightful place.
Rekindling the flame
Hermès, Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Dior all belong to the same family. Unaffected by successive takeovers or the rapid turnover of creative talent, they take the long view that is essential to the maturation of a luxury brand. They know how to establish long-term relationships with their iconic bags. Once they’ve established their reputation, they know how to feed their vital lungs: desirability. For each fashion show, Chanel creates variants of its Classique bag. Louis Vuitton often renews its lines with capsule collections or limited editions, while emphasizing the high-end. The Lady Dior is the subject of a veritable artistic “program”. Last but not least, Hermès offers its Kelly bag in a wide range of colors, and presents it in showcases that have become legendary. So many opportunities to communicate and to make people dream, which are transformed into gains in notoriety and desirability.
The long view
Long time is also the time of storytelling, an integral part of the value given to the bag. Chanel’s Classique model is the only one to have been designed by Coco Chanel herself, using a seamstress’s method known as “cousu-retourné”, usually applied to jackets. Hermès’ very sober Constance model, created in 1967, owes its success to its little sixties perfume, which is coming back into fashion. The Birkin bag by Hermès remains indestructible in the minds of all women, because it has a history and because it also innovated with its casual chic aesthetic. These stories create icons, and it is precisely these iconic landmarks that customers are looking for, provided that the brand has managed to respect its own language and identity. A parallel can be drawn with Cartier, which has been redesigning its watch and jewelry icons for several years without betraying their signature. This approach goes hand in hand with a discourse on know-how, quality, workshops and French manufacturing, legitimized by the age of the Houses. It is essential for creating desirability and exclusivity. The scarcity of models and the constant rise in prices, far from discouraging customers, only exacerbate their desire to own. And the figures speak for themselves, as confirmed by our interview with Charlotte Chehboub, Head of Communications at Collector Square, Europe’s leading luxury vintage retailer.
Taking over
Louis Vuitton is well placed in this ranking, with 3 models in the top 10. To follow in the footsteps of the over-seen and over-copied Monogram canvas, and to enhance its image, the House launched the Capucine model, which takes up the criteria for success of the timeless models: sobriety, a trapezoidal design, the discreetly suggested but recognizable Monogram, and superior material quality (leather). The gamble paid off, with the model still low on brand awareness but already well ranked on the other 2 criteria, desirability and exclusivity. Nevertheless, the trunk-maker has not given up on the Monogram, whose reputation remains strong. It is exploring it in an embossed version on leather (Empreinte) with ton-sur-ton models, more chic, more discreet. A fine way to take up the challenge.
- Methodology: the women surveyed belonged to the top 5% income bracket and had to have purchased a luxury bag worth over €2,500, whatever the brand, in the last 24 months. 4,712 responses were collected.
- For more information and to purchase the study: [email protected]
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