Fashion

Do the big timeless checklist, is that bag really worth it?

By
woman with all fashion items around her
Who Love Story has seen is also infected with 90’s minimalist chic. Carolyn Bessette Kennedy has effortlessly thrown ‘’timeless’’ back into the crowd, even posthumously, but that word is more complicated than it sounds. Recently, I saw a beautiful bag hanging: suede, brown, and spacious. The price tag, on the other hand, was also spacious. While I was pacing around De Bijenkorf, I heard myself say it at least forty times: “It’s timeless, my daughter can wear this too.” All excuses. When I now look in my closet at the pieces I once labeled as timeless, I now question that. Because is something truly timeless or is it a way to justify an exceptional purchase?

CR: FX

This is how you recognize an item with an expiration date

To understand what timeless is, you first need to recognize what it is not. On the other side of the spectrum is trendy, and that is much easier to spot. Trendy items often have bold colors, striking shapes, or emphasize a specific fashion image. Take, for example, ultra-low jeans, micro bags, or that one animal print that pops up everywhere. They fit perfectly into a specific moment, a season, a vibe. And that makes them so attractive: they give you the feeling that you are ‘in’. These must-haves are fun to add to your closet, but fashion is cyclical, and what is everywhere today suddenly feels dated tomorrow. The spending side of me whispers that due to the cyclical nature, exponential spending is indeed justified, because everything eventually comes back. But my realistic self also knows that fashion designers then just add a twist and turn that makes my piece still dated. After all, they also need champagne in their glass.

Timeless doesn’t have to be a beige sweater

Yet timeless is not synonymous with boring. It doesn’t mean that everything with color should immediately go to the textile bin. A brightly colored bag can just as well be timeless, as proven by the candy pink, or Rose Azalea’s, Hermès Birkin Bag. Timeless is not a checklist you can tick off; there are many factors at play. First of all, material: timeless items are often made of high quality. It’s leather that gets more beautiful with the years and fabrics that retain their structure. The ‘my daughter can wear this too’ thought is therefore sometimes justified. Then we have shape; the Birkin has a classic silhouette. No bells and whistles; it speaks for itself. As if the bag has always been there, even before Jane Birkin stepped on the plane with her wicker basket. You see the same principle in clothing in terms of fit. Timeless pieces fall exactly as they should fall. So keep your tailor on good terms. And then logos. Those remain a gray area. Classic houses like Gucci and Louis Vuitton have monograms that are inseparable from the fashion world, but as soon as branding takes precedence, an item quickly becomes time-bound. Not for nothing did Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy have the triangular logo of her Prada ski suit removed.

The ultimate timeless test

Another good example of timeless in practice is Diana, Princess of Wales with her Lady Dior. Look at this photo and try, if you ignore the obvious context, to date it. That proves difficult, and that’s the point. The ultimate test to determine whether you exude CKB or fast fashion has nothing to do with neutrals and basics. More with: ‘Does this feel detached from a specific moment?’ Vague, I know. To make it a bit more concrete, you can ask yourself if this is something you would still wear in ten years without irony. You have no idea what will be hip after all those years, and that is the real test: do you still like this without the trend surrounding it?

Timeless is, to the disappointment of women worldwide, not a free pass to shop stores empty under the guise of ‘investing’. That brown suede bag I considered, I ultimately left behind. Not because it wasn’t timeless, on the contrary, but because I know myself a bit better now. Suede, haste, coffee: that bag would never make it to the closet of my hypothetical daughter.