Fashion Week
Bring on the bum bag, Fashion Week's must-have accessory of the moment
By Anna Brech
8 years ago
For too long, bum bags have languished as the domain of style-deaf tourists.
They’ve been dismissed, laughed at, ridiculed and ignored.
But, no more.
We first heard that this perennial 80s favourite was set for a comeback earlier this year, and now Fashion Week SS18 has sealed the bum bag’s reputation as the hottest appendage in town.
Everyone who’s anyone is toting one of these nifty hands-free belts, which as been re-invented with a contemporary, high-fashion gloss by designers from New York to Milan.
The logo plaque Gucci version is a particular hit right now, but other fashion houses are developing a taste for the look, too.
There’s nothing remotely ironic about the re-appearance of the bum bag (or “fanny pack” as some know it): worn with swagger, it’s a badge of style kudos and about a billion miles off the deeply practical versions that once housed our scrunchies as kids.
Dive in, if you dare, to our pick of Fashion Week’s best bum bags – and see how to work the look yourself….
Images: Rex Features
The Gucci show, Milan Fashion Week
The latest Gucci take on bum bags features a beige canvas with smart leather trims.
Just like its original model, the design features plenty of zippers and pouches.
However, this is nothing remotely to do with utility; it’s a meticulously tailored style statement above all else.
The Zimmerman show, New York Fashion Week
Zimmerman’s interpretation of the trend is more whimsical, with a woven embroidered bum bag that is both easy-going and effortless.
Imagine donning it to head for cocktails on a remote beach in Goa...
Milan Fashion Week street style
Tiffany Hsu, buyer at MyTheresa.com and street style favourite, wears her Gucci pack with panache.
The distinctive accessory lends punch to an otherwise dainty tea dress.
Milan Fashion Week street style
A sequinned version is so very Milan and forms the mainstay of this 90s throwback ensemble.
The Rejina Pyo show, London Fashion Week
Fashion blogger Hedvig Opshaug works hers in baby pink.
London Fashion Week street style
… She translates the look nicely as the finishing touch to a knitwear camel coat, too.
A brave move that she fully pulls off (see? You just need confidence).
Image credit: @hedvigso/Instagram
Milan Fashion Week street style
Not many people could manage this audacious get-up, but Danish fashion editor Thora Valdimarsdottir is one of them.
Her oval, gold-embossed belt appears almost as an after-thought; an irreverent little tease amid a cacophony of colour and texture.
The Marc Jacobs show, New York Fashion Week
Kendall Jennifer’s bum bag is the utilitarian response to her dramatic, magnificently draped turban at Marc Jacobs.
The grassy colour and exaggerated geometric outline lends an edgy, sportswear aesthetic.
The Alexander Wang show, New York Fashion Week
Alexander Wang gets playful with the theme, re-imaging it with an over-shoulder twist.
It’s a look carried off smoothly – and with surprising sophistication – by model Candice Swanepoel; as if we all walk round with bum bags slung casually across our chests...
The Zadig & Voltaire show, New York Fashion Week
German fashion blogger Caroline Daur brings a scarlet quilted Gucci belt to the front row at Zadig & Voltaire.
Along with the shoes, it’s just the right accessory to bring a little zing to her pared-back ensemble.
Milan Fashion Week street style
The bum bag works here as a finishing flourish to a progressive, contradictory outfit.
This really shouldn’t work but somehow it does, and it’s great.
The belt acts as a focal point amid the wealth of contrasting patterns.
The Noon By Noor show, New York Fashion Week
Model Alanna Arrington turns the entire motif on its head at Noon by Noor, with a slim red waistband and neat, cubed-style box.
This is a delicate and quietly mischievous reading of the trend; a lovely way to lift a floaty SS18 dress.
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