The colour red is a constant reference in the worlds of fashion, art and design. Just take cinema, where the vivid hue is used to convey everything from character to context to plain old good taste. (See Marilyn Monroe’s traffic-stopping red dress in Gentleman Prefer Blondes , Dorothy’s ruby slippers or Cher’s “It’s an Alaïa!” minidress in Clueless .
) While there’s no end of era-defining red dresses to point to, when it comes to red handbags, the cultural references are fewer and further between (although one image that did spring to mind was Tinky-Winky from the Teletubbies – an icon if I ever saw one). Yet if you walk down a busy street in any city in the UK at the moment, chances are you’ll see a red handbag or five. According to 1stDibs, orders for red handbags have spiked by 75 per cent year over year, and designer brands such as Stella McCartney, Marine Serre and Louis Vuitton have slipped red totes of all shapes and sizes into their spring/summer 2025 collections.
Compared to the “pop of red” styling approach that proliferated last year, the current trend feels like a more unobtrusive adoption of the hue. A red handbag is a classic style that can be brought out season after season. How you rep red is up to you.
For roomy red totes big enough to provoke a bull, see The Row’s Alexia, Alaïa’s mesh bag and A.P.C.
’s Ninon tote. If you’re looking to add an additional endorphin kick to a party outfit, seek out red baguette bags from Fendi, Pr.
