Modern Living: Baglets

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If "less is more," in Architect Mies van der Rohe's famed phrase, this winter's new handbags are the most. Smaller than the standard envelope, minibags can be clutched in the hand, slung across a shoulder, hung from the neck or draped from the waist. The smaller the bag, the tinier the tag. One of ten models designed by Manhattan's Shirl Miller, a simple vinyl bagatelle retailing for $8, has sold more than 1 million. Other designs in more elegant materials can cost upwards of $100. The boom in bags has puzzled its beneficiaries. Says Bloomingdale's Fashion Director Janina Willner: "Sales have been phenomenal, and price seems to be no object. Honestly, I don't quite understand it because, you know, you can't put too much into it."

Cargo Space. Designer Vera Maxwell admits that the minibags "seemed terribly impractical to me at first." But, she adds, "we've finally come down to a great simplicity in clothes. The emphasis is on casual elegance. We all want something understated, not too authoritarian, and these bags work perfectly." Happily for Maxwell, her Ultrasuede dresses have been big sellers this year; in her view, Ultrasuede minibags "are just the solution for waste." And for crime. Most minis hardly hold more than mad money and a comb, but when attached to the body they make a difficult target for purse snatchers. And, they simplify the straphanger's life: the commuter with a mini can actually read a book on the way to work. If a woman decides one mini has insufficient cargo space, she can belt on two or three.

Also known as bagettes and bicycle bags, the minis were first shown with the fall resort-wear collections in Manhattan and Paris. The mini with the most has been Paris-based Kenzo's design. Made of suede, leather or printed cotton, Kenzo's flat half-circle with a snap-down flap has sold millions in copies by Miller, Pappagallo and others. A made-in-Colombia macrame necklace pouch by Kathy McKeany ($5) is expected to be a sellout when it reaches stores across the country this week. More ornate minis include Bagatelle Creations' snakeskin square with bow-tied front flap and shoulder strap ($45), Fendi's burgundy suede pouch on matching belt ($85) and a basket for the neck, from Japan or China, that sells for only $1.50 at San Francisco's Obiko Boutique. A detachable black leather pouch, originally designed by Manhattan's Ruza for the U.S. ski team (both sexes), hangs from either a canvas belt or a shoulder strap. Other designs include squares of velvet, printed velveteen canteens, hand-painted leather boxes and oblongs of beads.

Unlike "crazy socks," last winter's fun fling, baglets are selling mostly to fashion-conscious women between the ages of 20 and 40. They should be around, say department-store buyers, at least until next spring. New York Designer Albert Capraro is so confident of the vogue that he has designed minis for tunics, jumpsuits, sundresses, pajamas and long gowns. "They are very sexy," he says. "Toward evening when they are slung lower on the hips, they are even sexier."