Summer, is that you? After patiently waiting it out through a dark and dreary winter, it looks as though we’re finally starting to get the warmer weather we deserve, and things are certainly heating up on the spring/summer accessories front too.
This time of year can be difficult to dress for, but as seasoned professionals we always advise that the easiest way to give winter and spring outfits an instant update is with some warm-weather accessories. Think jeans + sandals, dresses + sunnies, and, perhaps the easiest and most effective update of all: adding a basket bag.
These days, this quintessential summer accessory can be found in most places, from the high street to independent market stalls (in France especially, if you’re lucky enough to be going on a summer jaunt there), and also from the most luxurious designers. There’s one brand, however, that has fuelled fashion people’s love for chic basket bags for a good few years now—and of course, that’s Loewe.
We’ll always have a soft spot for the now-iconic Loewe Raffia Tote, but thanks to that bag’s success, the brand has started to reinvent the basket style each year, surprising and delighting us with new designs that inevitably immediately take the number one spot on basically every fashion person’s wish list.
This summer there’s a couple of new designs in particular we can’t stop thinking about—namely the leather-trimmed rectangular raffia tote, and the newest bag on the block: the Paula’s Ibiza embroidered raffia tote. Both logo-adorned styles have already been spotted on the best-dressed influencers, but its the embroidered tote that’s currently garnering a lot of buzz. Clearly this is the design the brand have invested most heavily in, with a number of different sizes and colours having just been released (and already in high demand), Monikh—our columnist and personal tastemaker herself—even pronounced it SS23’s newest It bag last week. And whatever Monikh wants, we usually want too.
While we will never encourage impulse shopping, especially on cult buys, here at Who What Wear, Loewe’s raffia totes are those kind of bags that fly out of stock as quickly as they land, and it’s easy to see why. Loewe’s Spanish, artisanal heritage make them experts in carefully woven bags, and the new, boxier iterations are some of the best examples of this.
Okay, at around £800 for the small size, and over £1000 for the bigger versions, these bags don’t come in cheap. But the beauty of a simple, and timeless bag like this is that the classic design will go with everything in your wardrobe and it also never dates. You can rest assured that you can rewear a Loewe raffia bag every spring and summer for years to come and it will always add polish to your more relaxed warm-weather wardrobe.
Keep scrolling to see and shop the new Loewe bags that have been causing a frenzy on social media, and shop them (while they’re still in stock) and more below. Whether you’re wearing white T-shirt and jeans, or pretty summer dresses for the season ahead, this is one accessory guaranteed to up the chic factor.
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