The Most Colourful Bag Collection Ever!

And #TuesdayTwirl

Is This Mutton presents her collection of colourful tote and cross-body bags

Dear friends. Let me introduce you to my rainbow bag collection. I'll tell you a bit about them, a few tips I have as a multi bag user, and I'll style my latest acquisition.

You may be asking: why so many bags? As you may know, I've had colour analysis and am a Spring, and I just love the warm, bright colours of this season. I have so much fun building outfits around my bags or shoes. Not for me a restrained black, navy or white bag.

As well as being a Spring, I believe myself to be a classic Gamine in terms of a style personality. The bags I naturally gravitate towards are small and cute, although I find them a bit impractical for the realities of everyday life so only have one or two now.

I rarely spend more than £130 on a bag. I've never liked designer bags with ostentatious logos. I treated myself to a Mulberry once but never used it (too stiff and formal). I sold it for a nice amount on eBay.

My go-to bags are either totes, which will carry items such as towels (for a swim) or shopping (for a visit to the mother ship), or a cross-body bag with several pockets. The latter can easily accommodate my Kindle, phone, card holder, brush, lipstick, pen, glasses, plus those of the hubs (not that he goes for lipstick).

Most of my cross-body bags are by Pom Pom London. I love their cute signature pom pom and prefer it to the tassel favoured by other brands. Plus they have some great styles and colours. I've bought every bag myself, so my devotion is absolute. I always choose yellow gold hardware, it's the best metal for a warm spring.

Below: the PPL Original bag explored.

All the Pom Pom London bags offer a choice of straps, usually with two included. I generally prefer the chain straps although they're a bit heavier. Straps from other brands are interchangeable.

My Blue and Purple Bags

Left to right: blue and animal print tote, Sarah Lonergan. I love her range of Nephele bags which are made from offcuts of leather, so very environmentally friendly. I find them sturdy and reliable. Aqua bag, my latest purchase, Pom Pom London. This is one of their Transport for London specials, which has an additional branded key ring. The small blue bag is by Fenella Smith (vegan leather). Aqua suede bag from White Stuff. Purple bag, also from the Pom Pom London TfL collection (representing the Elizabeth Line).

I don't use the small aqua bag as it doesn't really hold anything. It will find itself on the charity shop pile very soon.

My Red Bags

The red and blue tote (Sarah Lonergan) is one of my favourites. It goes very well with my red and blue coats in winter. The small red bag is very gamine but reserved for occasions where I don't need to carry a lot of stuff. It came from Etsy. The red tweed bag was bought on Harris, Scotland, a couple of years ago.

My Green and Yellow Bags

Left to right: the sage green tote is a good neutral so I use it quite often. The small lime bag (Cambridge Satchel Co) is adorable but doesn't carry much, so doesn't get used very often, unlike the kelly green bag (Pom Pom London) and green tote bag (Fenella Smith) next to it. The yellow bag is also from PPL.

My Pink and Cream Bags

Yes, there are a couple of neutral bags....as well as the Spring pinks, which are a warm tone. L to R: stone bag, PPL; coral bag, PPL; small Nephele bag, Sarah Lonergan; geranium pink satchel, Cambridge Satchel Co. Cream bag, Coach.

My Orange Bags

Orange for those analysed spring is the brightest and lightest shade, not a terracotta type shade. The tote is vegan leather by Fenella Smith and the cross body is by Sofia and Spritz.

How I use Colourful Bags

There's a rule about colourful dressing for Springs which says we should combine 3 colours. I seldom do this, it's possibly too much for me, but a third colour in the form of a belt or bag can look good. If I dress tonally, all in one colour but various shades, I might use a bag in a different colour to add a pop.

A Few Tips

I know a lot of you stick to one or two bags because you have all your "stuff" in them and don't want to empty them each time. What I do is keep a box full of my bag essentials: mints, mirror, business cards, pen, hand sanitiser, hand cream, glasses case, pain killers and so on. I simply grab what I need each time, plus my debit and Oyster card holder, keys, lipstick and phone, and I'm done.

I store the smaller bags inside the totes in a colour co-ordinated way so they're easy to find.
I stuff the smaller bags with newspaper or tissue paper (most bags come with a stuffing which I keep).
For holidays, I typically build a capsule wardrobe, which is very easy to do when you know your colours, and I take a bag which will blend nicely with all of them. Last year it was the yellow bag in Skiathos, the year before, the stone.

I keep all the dust bags. I store the straps in one of them - they soon build up. They're essential if you want to sell your bags later.

My Latest Bag!

Pom Pom London Original Bag Plus Waterloo & City Line Aqua. Worn with jacket, belt and top, old, Kettlewell; jeans M&S and teal shoes, Embassy London (old), scarf, new, Ladycrow.

Is This Mutton in blue and teal with the Pom Pom London TFL collection aqua bag

What do you think about lots of colourful bags? Bonkers? Do tell in the comments. If you're using a PC or tablet you'll be able to see all the Disqus comments. Apologies to phone users: owing to incompatibilities between Google and Disqus, you won't see the full range of comments.

Sharing my posts with these fabulous sites.

Subscribe for 1 email a week from Is This Mutton for an update on posts you may have missed, or follow Is This Mutton on Feedspot. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky

TIME FOR THAT TUESDAY TWIRL!

Tuesday Twirl is one of the last remaining fashion link-ups. Other topics are welcome but not recipes I'm afraid ---- there are several link-ups for those.

Bloggers, scroll down to below the thumbnails to see the joining instructions. Find new readers!

Readers, please take a look at a couple of posts and make our day by leaving a comment there. Blogging is a lonely business. Hearing from readers is one of the reasons we do it. It's a wonderful community.