What sound does an it-girl make when she’s walking? Her bag charms jingle. For over a year now, there’s been a major rise in customising bags with keyrings, charms, jewellery and other fun cutesy accessories, so much so that the search for “bag charms” has increased by a mad 240% on Pinterest since last year. All the girlies are wearing them.
We’ve hit peak charmification, with a range of brands embedding bag accessories in their FW24 and SS25 seasons. Miu Miu and Prada dripped their bags with mini bags and pouches; Coach had I Heart NY trinkets and merch hanging on its bags; Balenciaga had key and lock charms on the new Rodeo bag and chains on the Bel Air City; and studded keyrings and leather roses were attached on the SS25 McQueen messengers and totes.
Getting personal
A lot has to do with our generation’s obsession with having unique, one-of-a-kind drip and “not being like other girls”. That has made us all preoccupied with vintage shopping, an ongoing search for unique garms and personalising our pieces – may that be because we want to stand out on the FYP, or because we’re just tired of looking like a microtrend-consuming fast fashion clone. And attaching cute, little personal charms on your bag is an easy way to play around with it, showing off our personalities through little trinkets: a Miffy charm, a keyring from New York, a beaded bracelet.
By adding a personal touch to your bag, it’s personal and custom to you: someone else might carry the same bag as you, but not have the same charms on it. It’s an accessible trend that everyone can take part in. And brands are capitalising on this sense of individualism. Young consumers might not be able to afford the £1,500 bag, but they can potentially afford the £85 keyring to hang on their bag.
Our generation’s fixation with anything Japan
Another reason for the boom in bag charms is everyone’s obsession with Japan atm. Ever since the country reopened its borders after Covid in 2022, we’ve all been on a Japan kick that isn’t ending anytime soon. Japanese tailoring, Japanese denim and Japanese prep have taken over the Western zeitgeist, and we’re seeing the resurgence of ‘90s and early 2000s Harajuku style of maximalism, layering, vintage, DIY, cutesy fashion – blending different aesthetics together and, again, embracing uniqueness.
The Kawaii aesthetic has slowly but surely become really big in the West, with a major rise of cutesy trinkets in the culture – such as Miffie, Hello Kitty and Sonny Angels, adding to our cute, maximalist tendencies.
Seeking a dopamine kick
Adding a bag charm to your bag brings in a joy-seeking aspect to dressing, but in a more demure way to the dopamine dressing of colour-blocking, tie-dye and abstract prints that we saw back in 2021. Current dopamine dressing is more low-key, with small, cute collectibles hanging from our bags that remind us of a friend, of a trip, of our childhood. And maybe show off that we got that collectible. We’re basically using them like stickers for our bags.
We’re all constantly seeking a dopamine hit after all, whether it’s from scrolling on TiKTok, seeing that an ex liked our story, or, idk, buying a Sonny Angel. And seeing our bag charms every time we open our bags, gives us a cute little kick.
Nostalgia hit
This trend also stems from ‘90s and y2k nostalgia, Gen Z is eating up any ‘90s or early 2000s aesthetic – cosplaying as office sirens, having Brit Pop on moodboards and copping Puma Speedcats and Mostros.
The whole thing started with kids buying Tamagotchis on eBay or Depop and hanging the virtual pet on their bags. The company relaunched in the UK in 2019, and Tamagotchis peaked so hard that sales doubled from 2022 to 2023 – the demand has been so high that the brand opened its first store in London last month.
Hype brands, such as Supreme with Tamagotchi or GCDS with Hello Kitty, have been revisiting these nostalgia trends with collaborations, only adding to the hype.
But, are brands overdoing it? For a trend that started off from DIY, nostalgia-driven aesthetics and making your bag personal to you, is it now being overdone by luxury brands to entice young customers? Are we still eating it up or is it an overkill?
Opener image Fendi©
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