Gallery of 15 statement handbags for under £150
Luxury has been the great goldrush of our times. In the age of the brand a new mindset has taken hold of the masses, one in which we are all "worth" the right phone, the right name on the sweatshirt, the right colour sole on a shoe. As a result, luxury has proved remarkably resilient, even during economic downturns.
The response of brands has been, of course, to put prices up. And then put them up again. Because if you can, why wouldn't you, right? In 2005, a Mulberry Bayswater handbag cost £495; today it sells for double that. It has become quite common for designer names and not just the storied likes of Hermès and Gucci, but essentially run-of-the-mill designer names to talk of including a few "entry-level" price points below £1,000, "for younger customers". A whole new category has been invented, that of the £100 trinket the keyring, the iPhone cover, sometimes literally a trinket to swing from a bag allowing consumers to "buy into" a brand.
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