The It Bag Archive
An It Bag is more than a status symbol—it’s a cultural snapshot. From the Birkin and the Baguette to the Saddle and the Le Chiquito, each handbag tells the story of its time: the mood, the muse, the movement. The It Bag Archive by Currant traces fashion’s most iconic bags across decades, exploring why they mattered, who carried them, and how they shaped style itself. Updated as new icons emerge, this is the definitive timeline for women of style and substance who see fashion as both history and art.
2025:
The Chanel 25 Bag
The It-Bag That Belongs to Us
When Chanel unveiled the 25 bag during its Spring/Summer 2025 presentation, few could have predicted how quickly it would travel from runway to street. In the weeks that followed, celebrities, editors, and tastemakers were photographed carrying it — in monochrome, in denim, slung over shoulders or clasped in arms. The buzz was electric. People whispered: “Is it Chanel’s next icon?”
Yet the 25 is not a wild deviation from Chanel’s lineage. Its lines nod to the recent wave of wearable shapes — the 22 bag, the 19 — yet it also stakes its own ground. With a slouchier silhouette, cargo-style pockets, and a shape that leans both toward a trapezoid and a bucket, the 25 feels modern, even utilitarian. Some call it the mommy bag or the triangle bag, others dismiss it as too casual for Chanel’s heritage. But as the months pass, many of us are softening to it. Because in a moment when luxury is less about owning a museum piece and more about living with intention, the 25 hits a rare sweet spot: beauty that carries life.
What Are The Critics Saying?
Fashion magazines and commentators have been ambivalent in the best way — torn between skepticism and fascination. The Editorialist praises its everyday practicality: “The 25 comes in sizes that actually make sense for daily life” — the medium fits long wallets and tablets; the large, even a lunch box. Who What Wear calls the small version “a silhouette to invest in” for carrying essentials without feeling overdone.
Some comparisons are inevitable. PurseBop describes the 25 as combining “classic Chanel sophistication with modern practicality,” citing its relaxed slouch and trapezoid contours — a bridge between structure and wearability. Others note that the 25 is already making a case for itself as “the bag of the year” with its space, utility, and evolving placement in street style stories.
Not everyone is sold. Some niche reviews and commentary view the 25 as too casual for a house that built its legacy on polish and structure. The louder flap bags and rigid geometries that defined Chanel for decades cast a long shadow. Yet to me, that tension is precisely what gives the 25 its intrigue: it’s a reinvention from within, not a rejection.
Why We’re Falling For It
Perhaps what makes the 25 feel so compelling is how it answers a modern luxury paradox — we want pieces that are beautiful and wearable, aspirational yet useful. A bag we don’t baby, but rely on. Somewhere along the way, luxury tilted toward display. The 25 leans away from that. It asks: Can elegance survive dirt, transit, errands, workdays? Editors and stylists seem to think yes.
Why it’s 2025’s It Bag
The Chanel 25 is not a clean break from its lineage. It doesn’t erase classic Chanel — it reframes it. In an era when the luxury conversation must contend with life, the 25 is a step toward continuity that breathes. Critics will continue to debate whether it’s too casual, too maximal, too loose. But giving it time, you see how it tempers its excess with discipline.
Chanel has always walked the line between heritage and innovation. With the 25, the house reminds us that even a shift toward softness can carry edge. Perhaps after years of structured whispers, what we needed was a bag that speaks in curves, comfort, and context. The boldest move is often the one that finally accommodates not just how we display, but how we live.
I was able to secure my own 25 a month ago. Where the waiting list was long for the small, my eyes had actually set on the medium. With a toddler running around and a baby on the way, I knew I wanted a bag that could fit my life as well as my family’s. It’s not a mommy bag though. It’s my go-to every-day bag that I’ve been using for meetings, for travel, for literally every essential event in my life. The supple caviar leather and golden details instantly elevate every look. And at the same time it carries everything (literally everything) I need. I have stopped wearing my other bags. Because nothing is beating the 25 at the moment.
Editor’s Note Igrien
Launch
Introduced during Chanel’s Spring/Summer 2025 runway show under Virginie Viard, the Chanel 25 bag marked a new era of practicality for the house — a bridge between the archival and the everyday.
Design
Crafted in supple calfskin and lambskin, the bag features a trapezoid silhouette with subtle cargo pockets, quilted surfaces, and the signature CC turn-lock clasp. It’s available in small, medium, and large sizes, each balancing structure with softness.
Campaign
The global rollout featured Jennie Kim, Dua Lipa, and Riley Keough, photographed carrying the 25 in neutral and denim variations — signaling a relaxed, lived-in take on Chanel’s classic codes.
Notes
Reception
Critics have called it “a study in functional luxury” and “Chanel’s most wearable icon in years.” Its detractors dub it the “mommy bag”, but that irony only adds to its modern charm — proof that a design built for life is finally having its moment.
Best for
The Chanel 25 is the bag you’ll carry through real life: a weekend brunch, a flight to Milan, or the everyday blur between work and home. Equal parts elegant and useful — it’s Chanel, without pretense.
Details
Published
8 October 2025
Visuals
Courtesy of Chanel