Alaïa Follows The Crystal Ballet Flat With Another Season-Defining Accessory
This season, the new designer bag holding our attention isn’t the one shouting the loudest. There are no garish logos or attention-seeking details, nor is it dripping in Instagram-catnip embellishment. In the age of thoughtful fashion purchases, sleek and season-transcending design reigns supreme – a factor that has set one particular shoulder bag up as the next It-bag to know.
At the AW24 shows earlier this year, fashion editors and influencers alike were carrying Alaïa’s Le Teckel: a slender, elongated sausage dog of a bag (yes, it is named after the dachshund in a nod to Azzedine Alaïa’s love for dogs) with long, curved straps and a two-way zip. Its popularity isn’t truly surprising – in just three years, creative director Pieter Mulier has passionately reinvigorated the iconoclastic brand – but in an age of look-at-me blockbuster bags, the early adoption speaks to a shift in our shopping habits.
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The Teckel is not the first of Mulier’s accessory designs to have swiftly secured It-Piece status: it follows the mesh ballet flat which, after selling out instantly last Spring, is still driving feverish demand, and the heart-shaped Le Coeur bag (which, should you be searching for one, is currently in stock online).
Mulier’s skill lies in his ability to create brand-building accessories that come with no compromise: these aren’t generic designs with a logo writ large, nor do they dilute the seasonless, seductive brand DNA in favour of mass appeal.
There’s another factor at play here, one that may not immediately spring to mind: wearability. Those fishnet flats may masquerade as a deliciously impractical shoe, but they’ve filled a gap in the luxury line-up for a flat that marries comfort with evening-worthy elegance. The same applies for the Teckel: its slender, oblong silhouette may scream special-occasion, but it’s actually a strong everyday proposition, offering a surprisingly roomy (and securely zipped) interior alongside sculptural handles that can be swung over one shoulder or grasped in-hand. There’s an internal mirror – a detail I frankly think all bags vying for ‘It’ status should include – but no of-the-moment finishers that’ll become a sartorial sell-by date.
While we’ve moved firmly on from the silly season of comically tiny trending bags, it’s true that not all occasions call for 2024’s supersized carry-all, spearheaded by the likes of Miu Miu and Balenciaga. The Teckel ticks that in-between box perfectly: elegant enough for evenings, practical enough for every day (if your everyday doesn’t involve dashing on the tube from the office to the gym, that is). Prepare to set those shopping alerts.
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