Longchamp's Le Pliage bags are like the canary in the coalmine. Like anything perpetually popular, their shifts are indicative of directional shifts in taste. So, with demand rising as the Le Pliage shrinks, I'm forced to ask: is it Succession's fault?
Yes, Succession, with its hateably wealthy characters and snappy dialogue, is practically tailor made to reshape popular culture. That's prestige TV for ya.
The debut episode of Succession's fourth season, which debuted in late March, proves the point. Therein, an uninvited party guest's bag inspired a series of quick, articulate jabs: "She brought a ludicrously capacious bag. What’s even in there? It’s monstrous."
Point being, not only was the woman out of place, but so too was her accessory, a Burberry handbag of, well, quite substantial size.
It may worth ~$3k but the bag's graceless scale betrayed the woman's unseemingly classlessness, an unforgiveable crime in the world of Succession.
To the Roy family, the main characters in Succession, the only thing worse than being poor is looking poor.
How does that translate into the real world? Well, it does and doesn't. See, even without the influence of Succession, Longchamp's Le Pliage Pouch was already starting to trend on TikTok.
Like I said earlier, Longchamp's signature Le Pliage bag is eternally in-demand. It's relatively affordable (for a name-brand bag) and expands to a surprising degree, fitting nearly anyone's EDC.
Longchamp's mini bag is far less spacious and capacious, though it's still fairly roomy.
Perhaps it was this particular paradox — big brand, small bag — that helped the Le Pliage Pouch take off across TikTok in mid-March, prior to the Succession premiere.
Still, I doubt that the spread of "ludicrously capacious" hurt the Le Pliage Pouch's fortunes.
People are snapping up the Le Pliage Pouch on Longchamp's website, its stores, and dupe sites, even though it really isn't that much of a splurge to buy the authentic $85 bag.
The move appears to be to pick up the mini Longchamp and slap a handle on it to wear crossbody. Boom, instant springtime statement piece.
Only 6"x4", the Le Pliage Pouch stands in direct opposition to the big bags that trended last year, though it probably wouldn't fare much better at the Roys' birthday party — if a $3k Burberry is pooh-pooh'd simply for its size, imagine their reaction to a bag worth less than four figures.
Longchamp isn't alone here, either. We've seen more brands issuing relative compact accessories recently, a natural evolution of rising demand for '90s-style baguettes and diminutive shoulder bags in the wake of the Y2K mania.
Funny timing, though, that a company perhaps best known for ludicrously capacious bags would see a rise in demand for its most petite accessory right around the time of that one Succession episode. Really makes ya think.
Does that mean big bags are gone forever? Surely, no. But as far as what's actually in demand for the summer? Think small.
