With so many brands and styles now available, the idea of an It bag has somewhat fallen to the wayside. While some still hold onto the dream of one day owning a Hermès Birkin, a Chanel classic flap or Carrie Bradshaw’s favourite baguette, each season brings new striking styles that immediately grab our attention – Miu Miu crochet pouch, here’s looking at you. Plus, the high street does a stellar job at delivering incredibly chic styles for a fraction of the price, meaning we often all own more accessories than we know what to do with.

Despite all of this, however, there seems to be one bag style that’s firmly back in the limelight, and you might even have owned one (or know someone who has, even if it was many moons ago): Longchamp’s Le Pliage. 

Beloved by many, including the Princess of Wales, Mary Berry, Alexa Chung, and now, according to social media, the younger generation who are showcasing the bags as their go-to school totes. Clearly the days of using a high street carrier bag or sturdy leather satchel picked out by your mum are long gone – Le Pliage is back. But did it ever go away?

First introduced in 1993 as a lightweight solution to classic leatherwork, Longchamp claims Le Pliage – named after the French for ‘folding’ – changed the history of the brand forever. It’s crafted from washable nylon, includes sleek leather straps and – hence the name – can be folded down to quite a tiny size, making it a great extra shopper to have on hand or a go-to travel option.

All of these traits, and the fact it costs much less than many other luxury labels – the original currently for £120 – attracted several famous faces in the late 2000s and early 2010s: Kate Middleton, Katie Holmes, Beyoncé and Amy Adams among them. By this time, the design had expanded to include a huge range of colours and sizes, making Le Pliage quite the collector’s item.

Now, nearly 10 years later, Le Pliage was as the ninth ‘hottest product’ on fashion search engine Lyst’s Index for the second quarter of 2023, and the influx of social media attention proves the style has regained its It bag status. We’re crediting it to the huge Y2K fashion revival, accessible luxury price point and the continued evolutions of the bag, including an increased sustainability focus and limited edition collab designs.

So, it’s time to pull your old Le Pliage out of storage or perhaps treat yourself to a new one. If you’re feeling inspired, we’ve added a handful of similar styles below. 

Images: Longchamp; Getty; courtesy of brands