I’m no fortuneteller, but if I had to guess one of the biggest bag trends for the start of 2025, my fashion compass is steering me towards east-west bags.
Just as its name suggests, the elongated style’s most defining feature is its extra-long, horizontal shape that extends, you guessed it, east and west. I like to think of it as a kind of cross between the iconic baguette bag of the ’90s and a bowler bag—except unlike its sister styles, the east-west bag notably features a thin, long shoulder strap positioned smack dab in the middle of style, giving off a sculptural silhouette.
East-west bags reigned supreme during New York Fashion Week this past fall.
While the style is anything but new (fashion historians claim it was first introduced in the 1950s), east-west bags have increasingly been making more appearances on the runways, most recently during Prada and Bally’s spring 2025 ready-to-wear shows. Several celebrities, such as Katie Holmes, Hailey Bieber, and Emily Ratajkowski, have also been spotted wearing the stretched-out style over their shoulders from brands like Freja, Bottega Veneta, and Prada. On top of that, when New York Fashion Week rolled around this past September, it seemed that every fashion editor, influencer, and their mother had also caught up with the sleek trend.
The fact that it’s so versatile only adds to the east-west bag’s timeless appeal. It sits at that perfect sweet spot between casual and formal, and because of the ladylike details, you can count on the style sticking around in your handbag collection for a very long time. Ahead, I’m sharing some of the my favorite east-west bags to take for a spin just in time for the new year.
Sophie Dweck is the Associate Shopping Editor for Town & Country, where she covers all things fashion, beauty and lifestyle, shares her expertise on the most worthwhile luxury products, tests and writes in-depth reviews on the very best essentials worth investing in, as well breaking news about the latest launches, and of course, reports on the biggest sales and deals to shop no matter the day. Some of her favorite items to date are Gwyneth Paltrow’s ski trial cardigan, the Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser, and ZIIP’s microcurrent device. When Sophie isn’t testing state-of-the art beauty tech or breaking down TikTok aesthetics, she loves indulging in BonBon sweets (Sorbisars, for the win!) and finding the next trend before it goes viral.
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