One of the quickest and easiest ways to elevate your look and give an appearance of being pulled together (even if you’re a mess underneath, like me!) is to stock your wardrobe with a few on-point accessories.
A bit of well placed tailoring or the right bag can give everything a bit of a sophisticated slant without any extra effort on your part. That’s why bags have always been one of my favourite pieces to buy.
Any bag capsule wardrobe should really contain a large, structured tote in black, but strangely enough this was the one thing missing from my collection.
It’s that rather seductive idea of the one bag to do it all - office days, trips to the gym, airport dashes. Everyone needs a large, smart tote that can cover all these bases and look good doing it. And I might just have found it in the beautiful ‘Stockholm’ bag from Azurina.
We all dream of a closet full of designer bags, but budgeting for them isn’t always doable. Luxury, however, could still be within reach. A classic leather bag in a structured shape always looks polished and high-end -and that’s the idea behind Azurina.
Exquisitely roomy and supremely chic, this really is a love and use forever deal.
It’s made of real leather, and comes in different colours and either a smooth finish or this deluxe looking embossed croc effect. Large enough to function as a work tote or even for a weekend away, the bag also has slim but sturdy straps long enough to sling over your shoulder.
This might sound like a minor detail, but it's important - my much loved and wanted Mulberry Bayswater has annoyingly short straps that don’t sit comfortably on the shoulder when wearing a winter coat. It’s little details like that that make a bag your daily go-to or consign it to the back of your wardrobe.
Second, there is a magnetic popper fastening in the middle, which pulls the sides together securely - another detail that counts for a lot. My Louis Vuitton Neverfull MM features a metal clasp instead which doesn’t do much to stop potential thieves as you can still reach into the bag.
The details continue - a super soft brushed suede inner, and additional zipped pouch for holding your most important essentials, and a detachable luggage tag also feature. All of these little touches make the bag both highly elegant and very functional.
And the icing on the cake?
The tote, the inner pouch and the luggage tag all come monogrammed with your initials at no extra charge. Sure, a designer logo on your bag might look good, but nothing beats a monogram - the ultimate in stealth luxury.
There’s something so chic about discreetly embossed initials on leather goods, and of course it's something that will never go out of fashion either.
The bag comes in absolutely stunning pink and emerald Azurina packaging, so the whole experience feels amazing and very high-end.
The sturdy, beautiful leather holds its shape very well and you can fit such a lot in it. It’s the workhorse power bag that will see you through returning to the office, weekends away and shopping trips with absolute ease thanks to its capacity and low-key luxe style.
You really can’t go wrong with a piece like this. Modern classic!