Wicker baskets: Summer accessory not only for a picnic
TELLING ABOUT TRENDS FROM PODIUM which can be adapted for your wardrobe for the next six months. As is often the case today, the trend for straw bags is back thanks to an instagram, where fashion bloggers showed off their summer and winter looks with wicker shopping bags. It took just a couple of years for this uncomplicated accessory to be seen literally daily - whether it be posts in social networks, a mass market or a collection of fashion houses. We understand how straw string bags captured the world of fashion and became universal for any time of the year.
How it all began
Even today, woven bag is associated by many with beach holidays and picnics, although back in the 70s Jane Birkin proved its versatility: she combined it with simple jeans and T-shirts, sundresses and shirts, while walking around Paris. The actress really had a special weakness for the baskets, which fit a lot of things at once, and therefore included them even in open evening images, with translucent and very short dresses.
In fact, baskets were almost always used in everyday life. Since ancient times, in wicker products they have stored fruit and dishes, carried the harvested crop and even water (in many cultures it is still customary to do this on the head). In ancient Greece, for example, the basket served as a symbol of abundance and fertility. The materials used were very different depending on the region, but they were always obtained from plants: bamboo, rattan, palm trees, and others.
In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in Europe, many hostesses and artisans wove baskets - they were a hot commodity and an attribute of any home. Outside, they were worn mostly by servants and peasants, although already in the pictures of the 17th century children appeared with baskets full of fruits and berries, which indicated wealth. Later, court ladies and aristocrats will like the idea of wearing flowers in baskets.
By the way, the tradition of taking with you the fresh air in the basket in the basket dates back to the same times: however, it was not cozy picnics, but feasts or hunting meals. And although in the 19th century, special picnic baskets were already sold, and industrial development erased class boundaries, still before the 20th century, friendly or family outings remained entertainment for wealthy people.
In the 50s, the lover of wicker accessories was Audrey Hepburn, who could combine a basket with an elegant dress and a simple suit, and once added it to a luxurious look with a fur coat. Straw bags were worn by Brigitte Bardot and Marilyn Monroe.
They used baskets in film costumes - with a simple dress, like the heroine of Hitchcock’s “The Man Who Knew Too Much”, or with weekend dresses, like in the movie “The Best”. And although the twentieth century has shown that the woven bag is not at all an exclusive attribute of a beach, a picnic or a "village" aesthetics, yet today both fashion critics and the designers themselves stubbornly clung to this stereotype.
How braided back in fashion
One of the first new variations of straw bags and baskets suggested, perhaps, Cult Gaia: the classic model of Gaia's Ark in the form of a crescent began to choose stars from small to large - the same bloggers from Instagram with tens of thousands of subscribers and actresses like Jessica Alba. In contrast with the Los Angeles-based brand experimenting with silhouettes, the Bonjour Coco brand fired, repeating the legendary design of the favorite baskets Birkin. Among the fans of the brand are model and designer Jeanne Damas and founder of the ManRepeller blog Leandra Medin.
Designers are guided by the rule "the simpler the better." This is the main strength of this trend: due to the absence of unnecessary details and simple forms, wicker bags are always able to look relevant. The Dolce & Gabbana model from the 2012 collection can be easily presented today. Michael Kors wicker shopper of the new season also looks like a thing out of time. Tell me, who has never had the same basket, as shown by Gucci, or Miu Miu shopping bags? They resemble bags that our grandmothers could carry.
What to wear
If the eye is already blurred by the many options of woven bags, plastic avosek, straw reticulums and baskets, you should look for extravagant options in young brands and in vintage stores. For example, the same Cult Gaia offer not only “crescents”, but also real woven “drums”, bags with huge tassels, designer bags and straw mug to boot. The Nannacay brand cooperates with Peruvian craftsmen, thereby helping to develop the local craft - it is possible to find bags in the form of cylinders or boxes in it.
The main rule propagated by designers and street-style chronicles regulars is that wicker bags no longer belong to beach aesthetics. If you like the minimalistic look of a straw bag, then nothing prevents you from adding it to a strict office look - like, for example, 3.1 Phillip Lim. Bright models of the type of Giorgio Armani, too, will not yield to universality: jeans, a raincoat, a T-shirt, a monochrome dress - in fact, any everyday thing for them is a great pair. They come across very neat bags that could be made from any other material, but raffia looks more interesting - such a model by Michael Kors is unlikely to fit into the image with "Daddy's" sneakers and sweatpants, but it will suit adherents of any other style: lovers of culottes and mules, large platforms and extreme mini, narrow jeans and crop tops.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons (1, 2, 3), Cult Gaia (1, 2), Phillip Lim
