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There’s an interesting dichotomy happening in the world of fashion – style is becoming a game of two halves. Influencers rule social media, showing us instantly how to wear pieces of the moment, while classic fashion remains aloof, curating the looks and style of the ages. There’s a standoff between Instagram and high brow fashion – and its all summed up by the Dior saddle bag renaissance.
The early 00’s staple, made famous by Sex and the City, was one of many ‘It’ items of the decade. And now, as happens in fashion, the trend has come back around again. The difference is, this time around, Dior have updated their marketing strategy for the 21st century. It was hard to miss the avalanche of street style-style shots showing various influencers with the bag across Instagram these past few weeks. High fashion publications like Marie Claire and Vogue sat up and took notice, posting videos of the making of the iconic bag, pushing its cult status higher and higher. Everywhere we look, from Paris to New York, the Dior saddle bag has made its social media comeback, and it suddenly, and instantly, became the ‘It’ item once again.
Rather than building up an item’s cult status over years of continual use, Dior bypassed the hard graft and went straight for the marketing jugular. They know how today’s shoppers operate – they love nostalgia and the idea of a classic item, while simultaneously on the lookout for the item of the moment, and how to get it right here, right now. The Dior saddle bag is the perfect illustration of the fashion zeitgeist – fast, bright, and, I fear, gone in a flash.
Instagram culture has seen the birth of tiny-micro-trends – the individual items that will elevate your look for less than a season. After a few weeks, they take a back seat, thrown to the back of the wardrobe while another tiny sunglasses-equivalent takes to the screen for their 15 minutes of fame. The flip side to our trend-obsessed culture? Our capsule-obsessed culture – the tribe that dedicates just as much time and effort to curation and wardrobe dieting as others do to shopping. It’s a world of classic pieces vs ‘it’ items. Which does Dior want to be part of?
While the saddle bag is dominating our feeds, it won’t be too long before another ‘It’ bag (or shoes or sunglasses or midi dress) will have their day in the sun. The Dior saddle bag will once again be remembered as the cult item of the early 00’s – and that one time when it came back for a month in 2018. The blurring of lines between classic and Zeitgeist gives us a quick glimpse into a possible future of fashion. Until, just like the items, it’s gone in a flash.