The Je Ne Sais Quoi of an Undone Belted Bag

When you think belted bag, you think Hermès Birkin, and when you think Hermès Birkin, you think perfectly coiffed, well-to-do lady who lunches and probably has a few art wings named after her. Ironic, really, considering that the bag's namesake, the inimitable Jane Birkin, was the epitome of freewheeling French nonchalance. When I think undone belted bag, I think about her—and her own Birkin, plastered with stickers, dangling with charms, far too packed with stuff to ever fully buckle.

"Clean Girl," "Quiet Luxury," "Demure"—the past few years in fashion and beauty have been dominated by a sort of pursed-lip push for polish and perfection. But one can only hold their breath and sit up straight for so long. In 2026, we're experiencing a collective exhale—and the unbuckling of all our belts.

On the accessories front, structural shapes and buckled designs aren’t going anywhere this year, but they are being styled in a way that’s more lived in. For the Spring/Summer 2026 shows, designers like Fendi, Loewe and Tory Burch sent models down the runway in bags that were unbuckled and unzipped, slouching open in a way that says, “I’m far too busy to care about doing up my purse.” Call it French, call it messy or call it, as I do, incredibly chic.

Aside from Jane Birkin herself, my mind also wanders to Mary-Kate Olsen—my fellow Gemini and staple on my mental moodboard for the past two decades—and her worn-to-death, never-fastened Hermès Kelly. The way she paired it with tousled hair, fur coats and a coffee cup larger than her head throughout the late aughts and early 2010s, occasionally using it to shield her face from the ever-present paparazzi as she darted into the back seats of black cars. Has anyone ever been cooler?

If there’s one “trend” we’ll be seeing across the board this year, it’s a return to being effortless in a real way—no airs, no filters, no pretending you don’t actually use your bag. There’s a fabulousness in the unfastened, and you can embrace it with these picks (for every budget) below.

Want to know which buzzy products are *really* worth buying? Sign up for our shopping newsletter to uncover our favorite finds.