Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Trend Tuesday - Fanny Packs

The latest trend in fashion is Fanny Packs. Yes, I said it fanny packs. I guess they aren’t a new trend just a trend that has came back in style. Most people say that if you wait long enough a certain fashion item will come back in style, sort of like bell-bottoms and ponchos. But I never thought in a million years that fanny packs would come back in style. I first learned that the fanny pack was coming back in style when I saw Kathy Lee Gifford on the Today show with Hoda Kotb show off the latest trend in fashion. Gifford said that she loved the idea of the fanny pack. She said she used one when she went to Europe and loved it because she could keep her her passport, camera, and lipstick all in one place while having her hands free. I still couldn’t believe that these tourist bags from the 80’s were coming back in style. As I did some research I learned that this year at at Fashion Week in Yvan Mispelaere creative director for Diane von Furtensberg debuted fanny packs.  He said that he drew inspiration from iconic women like dancer Isadora Duncan and the Roman goddess Diana the Huntress. These fanny packs allowed for “free spirit” and represented “motion, dancing and celebrating the sun.” Mispelaere does not call them fanny packs even though that is exactly what they are, he calls them “hand-free bags” he said the name helps convey “a functional shape, but with a touch of glamour, a touch of luxury and a touch of seriousness.” Let’s be honest, call it what it is a fanny pack.


Fanny packs became popular in the late 1980s and early to mid 1990s. I remember my first fanny pack. I called it a belt bag and rocked it in second grade around 1991. The belt bag was purple and pink and I thought it was so cool because it had a smaller pocket on the outside that I carried my lip smackers chap stick. It was pretty awesome. I liked it so much that I bought one just like it and used it my classes’ Christmas exchange. I was so excited that another girl in my class would have a fanny pack just like mine! By third grade, fanny packs were so yesterday and I stopped wearing it but that didn’t stop my mom (a teacher). My mom always thought the fanny packs were perfect for field trips because they allowed her hands to be free. Who would have thought all these years my mom was setting the trend?

The new fanny packs or “hands-free bags” definitely try to convey a touch of luxury. Designers like Mispelaere, Dolce & Gabbana, and Louis Vuitton all are selling them. Instead of the cheap price I remember, the designers are asking anywhere from $325 to $875.

I am all about trends and fashion, but this is one I can’t follow. I will always think of tourist and my mom when I think of fanny packs. If I need to be hands free I will get a Swingpack Crossbody. What do you think of this "new" trend?

2 comments:

Ashley said...

I'm a NOLA girl, and fanny packs have been a Mardi Gras staple for years. Not sure about for everyday use though...

Fitness By Alicia said...

Hi Ashley! I am sure fanny packs do come in handy for Mardi Gras. I jsut can't get myself to wear one. I am going on a cruise in the fall and know I need to be hands free, but I think I will opt for a cross body purse and not a fanny pack!

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