It’s easy enough to picture a blue button-up shirt, a pleated mini skirt and ballet flats on a person. Now imagine the outfit on a bag.
That ensemble is one of the many ways people can dress up a handbag with bag charms, items used to accessorize another accessory. As they have proliferated, charms have started to rival holiday ornaments in their variety and availability.
The dangly products are sold at a range of retailers, including mall chains like Claire’s and luxury department stores like Bergdorf Goodman. They take the forms of fruits, vegetables, animals, robots, shopping bags — even handbags. For example: Louis Vuitton’s Speedy Monogram charm, a 2.4-inch-wide version of the brand’s popular Speedy bag. At $815, it is one of many charms that cost more than some handbags themselves.
Others include Miu Miu’s leather charms resembling a shirt, a micro-mini skirt and ballet flats (all $625 each), as well as the label’s cord-and-nylon charm ($440), which, as noted in several TikTok videos, evokes a lanyard made at summer camp. The luxury brand Loewe also sells charms like a fluffy felt corgi ($550), a leather pea pod containing resin peas ($490) and a bundle of asparagus made with beaded felt ($790).
“All the brands seem to be jumping on it,” said Lori Hirshleifer, 65, whose family has owned and operated the store Hirshleifers in Manhasset, N.Y., for several generations.
“I see people around me and the store and the area adorning their bag,” Ms. Hirshleifer added, describing fascination with bag charms as “almost contagious.” She has not been immune to their appeal: Her collection includes charms from Loewe, Chrome Hearts and Prada, some of which she has shown off on social media.
Prices for other charms may be more in line with what some might expect to pay for key chains by another name. At Bloomingdale’s, the available styles include a miniature version of the department store’s Little Brown Bag ($12); a peach from Maison de Sabré ($69); and a heart-shaped quilted coin purse from Kurt Geiger London ($65).
Bag charms have resonated with customers of the department store who are “craving a way to show their personal style,” said Marissa Galante Frank, the fashion director for accessories and beauty at Bloomingdale’s.
She added that interest in the charms has risen on the heels of now-waning trends like quiet luxury, which prescribed that clothes and accessories be simple and staid. As Ms. Galante Frank put it, charms are a “way to make a more serious handbag feel unique.”
Justine Clenquet, 33, an accessories designer in Lille, France, offered a similar explanation for the interest her bag charms, which include puffy hearts and teddy bears (both $76). She said her customers skew younger and “prefer to have something more classic for a bag and more playful for the charms” — like her current best-selling style, a large silver bellybutton barbell ($65) — “because you can remove it if you don’t like it anymore.”
Though newly fashionable, bag charms are not new. For decades, Hermès has been associated with the baubles largely because of Jane Birkin, who was known to adorn her namesake Birkin bags with stickers and key chains. (The current charm selection at Bloomingdale’s includes vintage Hermés styles like a multicolor pony for $650.)
Online, the term “Birkinfy” has become shorthand for Ms. Birkin’s way of accessorizing handbags. Chloe Jackson, a 32-year-old tattoo artist, learned about bag charms after encountering the term on Pinterest.
On Thursday, Ms. Jackson was browsing the selection of charms at Anthropologie in Rockefeller Center while visiting New York from Las Vegas, where she lives. The store is one of several Anthropologie locations with a stand-alone display for bag charms, like a carabiner with faux pearl accents ($28) and themed styles for cities including Nashville and London (both $32).
Hanging from Ms. Jackson’s leopard print bag were a wolf tail and a doll she had made with her daughter. “I’m super into oddities and creepy things,” she said, explaining that the items decorating her bag “add a personal touch.”
Since Anthropologie started selling bag charms in August, they have become some of the most searched for items on its website, said Jessica Irick Peek, the company’s general merchandise manager for accessories. She added that Anthropologie sold more than 10,000 charms between August and October.
“People are looking to make things unique for themselves,” Ms. Irick Peek said.
For those with little time to look for bag charms who are willing to pay a premium, certain brands offer ways to streamline the process. Balenciaga is selling bags that come adorned with various charms (starting at $4,600), as is Prada (starting at $3,750).
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