THE BIG BAG TREND!

I came across this article earlier today and think it is true that we are really on the track of having "the bigger the better" idea about bags.

I personally a fan of big bags, but there are times that i stress my shoulder more than what it can takes.
But yes, its is a self-protective reflex that we do (beside the point that its 'trendy') bring big bags as I am just plain insecure about me not bringing enough important things out. Most of the time I'll ended up regret that I didn't stuff it into the bag.

What about you?

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INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUTE: HANDBAGS

Paris may be the capital of fashion at its most elaborate - from painstaking haute couture to Christian Louboutin's exquisite needle heels - yet when it comes to handbags, the City of Light has long incorporated a practical approach. Far from the world of the tiny beaded clutch, iconic French bags combine quality and quantity - think the chunky Louis Vuitton Speedy, the spacious YSL Muse or the roomy Hermès Birkin.

But recently, designers have been taking the roomy purse idea to a whole new level.
Around the trendy Third Arrondissement and the Rue Saint-Honoré, stylish women can be seen carrying handbags that could easily double as weekend valises. Indeed, the latest purse by the modish Parisian label Zadig & Voltaire - the soft leather Cabas Touly - does come in under the maximum Air France overall hand baggage allowance of 115 centimeters, or 45 inches (at 36 centimeters wide, 38 centimeters high and 14 centimeters deep). But taking it onboard as a handbag leaves little room for anything else.

Of the 19 bags that make up Chanel's winter 2008 collection, more than half are oversized shoppers and totes. The Dior Soft bag, which fashionably dwarfs Monica Bellucci in the label's recent advertising campaign, is, at 38 centimeters by 40 centimeters by 11 centimeters, proving a bestseller for the fashion house. Meanwhile, when YSL introduced the roomy Muse 2 earlier this year, a follow-up to its celebrated Muse bag, the fashion house didn't bother with a small version of the purse, creating only a large and a medium.

The original Muse bag, which, in its most desirable "oversize" form, measured 34 centimeters by 44 centimeters by 15 centimeters, was seen by many as the height of French chic. The popular style Web site BagSnob.com stated: "The Muse has that 'je ne sais quoi' nonchalance and effortless style that only the French seem to be born with."

The trend for big bags is, of course, not merely limited to France. To mark its 10-year anniversary, the Italian fashion house Fendi - whose diminutive Baguette clutch was the It bag of the late '90s - reinvented the Baguette this year in a new oversized version that comes with two detachable straps for practicality.

The Hermès Birkin was inspired by the British singer Jane Birkin - purportedly after the company's chief executive heard Birkin complaining on a flight about the impossibility of finding a practical-sized purse.

Meanwhile, in the United States, the fashion blog of The Los Angeles Times had a post this year titled "Can big bags kill people" asking: "Ever been hip-checked by a Birkin? It hurts. Try navigating through a Hollywood luncheon or nightclub without sustaining a few blows to the ribs and hips by swinging big bags."

And yet it seems that French designers are leading the big bag trend. In a listing of the "Top 10 Greatest 'It' Bags Ever" on the popular British online style magazine Handbag.com last month, more than half the handbags were oversized, and the majority were created by French designers - including the Birkin, which came in at No. 1; Nicolas Ghesquière's oversized Lariat bag for Balenciaga; and Louis Vuitton's sturdy Murakami purse.

So why is it that, in an age when agendas, MP3 players and cellphones can be combined into a handy-sized iPhone or BlackBerry, when digital readers are alleviating the need to carry around chunky novels, and when airlines are continually reducing hand baggage allowances, the oversized handbag is still growing in style kudos?

"The big bag is sexy and mysterious," said Erotokritos, a Paris designer whose range of oversized handbags for winter 2008 includes a slouchy, soft leather design and a large, boxy, patent purse. "In an era where everything is getting smaller and more high tech, the big-bag lady looks like an urban gypsy, ready for anything, an extra pair of heels for a night out, ready for the gym or ready to catch a flight for the weekend."

And those who lug the enormous bags around seem to agree.

For Cordelia Simon, 26, a marketing assistant based in Paris, the necessary detritus of day-to-day living make a large handbag a practical choice.

"I mainly like large bags because I have lots of things to put in them," she said. Among her essentials: a wallet, a diary, keys, a pen, a makeup bag, a book, a newspaper or magazine, a USB key, an iPod, a travel pass and "often a cardigan or a scarf."

"I think that it is more elegant to carry a large bag," she adds, rather than "a small bag crammed with stuff."

To explain the phenomenon, van Herpen looks to the flux of modern life - where we might change plans at a moment's notice by text message or spontaneously make last-minute trips. "'I think it's a self-protective reflex," she said. "You don't know where life might take you, and it's important to be ready for all eventualities."

The prices attached to It bags, with $1,000 no longer unusual, might be another contributing factor to the popularity of big bags.

"Personally, not having a budget that allows me to buy lots of bags, I prefer to spend in one go a large sum and buy a bag that I can carry all the time," said Emilie Audry, a press assistant at a couture house in Paris. "It's more understandable to spend €1,000 on a bag that you can take everywhere than €600 on a bag that's pretty but into which you can barely fit your cellphone."

For others, the enduring appeal of the gigantic purse is simply explained by the bag's ability to merge an attractive appearance with a prosaic usefulness - a combination that is not always apparent in the world of fashion and that suggests big bags might be here to stay.

"These huge bags have a practical and slightly nomadic side, but they are also very beautiful," said Wally Azar, 21, a Paris student. "I think that what we have here is a fashion phenomenon that suits pretty much everyone."