Despite working in fashion for just over 10 years now, and despite obsessing over the subject of fashion for even longer than that, I have a problem with bags. I don't mean that I can't find one I like, I've found plenty. There's the bag I take to weddings that looks like a perfect pearl, the bag I wear across my person when I'm busy and need not to be carrying anything with my hands, and there's the bag I stuff all number of items into when I'm going away for a few days. I like all of these bags; these bags are all very nice in their own right. What all of these bags have in common, however, is that they are either too small or too large to make them perfect. This means that, for the past I-don't-know-how-long, I have been travelling to work with my handbag, a tote bag containing my laptop and sometimes even a third bag for miscellaneous items I can't seem to fit into either of the other two bags. For this reason, I would like to thank Gucci, for it has just invented the very bag that's going to change my life.
Last week, Gucci staged its Cruise 2026 show in Florence. It's an interesting time for the brand which, following the exit of Sabato De Sarno in February this year, is awaiting the arrival of Demna, currently creative director at Balenciaga (Pierpaolo Piccioli will be succeeding him there). This Cruise collection, as a result, was designed en masse by the Gucci team, shown in the 15th century Palazzo Settimanni, which is home to the brand's archive. And really, the collection resembled a journey through said archive, with elements that looked to be plucked from each Gucci era, from De Sarno to Alessandro Michele to Frida Giannini to Tom Ford. The most exciting part? The Giglio bag.
www.gucci.com
The true embodiment of an 'investment bag', this will carry everything you need – and then some – while looking incredibly chic.
Among the silk, brocade, jacquard and velvet, the Giglio bag emerged as the stand-out piece of the Cruise show. Named after the emblem of Florence – giglio is the Italian word for lily – Gucci says it's 'an homage to the city' with its GG monogram in either beige canvas or blue denim, complete with the signature Gucci stripe. New designer bags are two a penny these days, though, so why am I so excited about the Giglio? The size.
Imagine your old tote bag. Then look at the Giglio and you'll find it difficult not to feel badly about your accessories. The Giglio has all the elegance of a top handle bag, only the handle is deep enough for you to wear it on your shoulder. It's slouchy, meaning you can shove a whole load of stuff in there and still be able to carry it and, most importantly, it's enormous. It's enormous without being too big to qualify as a perfectly reasonable, everyday sort of handbag. You see? It's perfect.
www.gucci.com
The bag also comes in blue denim, and you can even personalise it with your own monogram.
Into the Giglio, I could happily fit my laptop, the contents of my handbag and all of those miscellaneous items I am apparently carting around with me in no less than three separate bags. This isn't just about practicality, though, for I am a shallow beast. This bag is chic. It is the stuff of dreams.
Happily, Gucci has made the bag available to buy now, before the rest of the Cruise collection. At £1,600, this is not a cheap solution to my bag woes, but it is a very exciting one. Trust me, you'll soon see this bag all over re-sale sites with hiked up prices as more and more people cotton on to its brilliance. It's not just that it's a Gucci bag, it's a bag that could actually help your day-to-day existence and I, for one, would like to return to the days when accessories were supposed to do just that. Except I'd like to keep the aforementioned pearl bag, as it really is pretty.
Anyway, buy this bag before I do and be the envy of, well, certainly me. In the meantime, I'll try to think about something other than the fact that my life would be significantly improved just by owning the Gucci Giglio.
Hannah Banks-Walker is Grazia's head of fashion commerce. She has previously written for the likes of Harper's Bazaar, The Financial Times, Glamour, Stylist, The Telegraph, Red, i-D and The Pool on everything from fashion to curly hair (hi!) to the patriarchy. Not necessarily in that order. Find her on Instagram and Twitter. But please don't look for her MySpace profile, which until now was the last time she wrote about herself in the third person.