Business & Real Estate: Vintage prep classic Bermuda bags seen on island after trunk show

‘80s vintage, plus a few alligator bags

Ready for the return of the Bermuda bag? The Stylish Sloane, Suzy Smith, is Texas collector and fashion stylist and seller who has made a specialty of vintage bags, and was visiting here on island. She was here this week for a trunk show at The Gasparilla Inn.

The bag was a classic prep accessory that has had a number of revivals over the years, but is increasingly hard to find. The bags, which married a wooden handle and a fabric bottom, were made famous by Trimingham’s, a Bermuda department store, and exploded across the U.S. in the 1980s, along with the Sperry Top Sider, Pappagallo espadrille and L.L. Bean herringbone sweater.

“Where I grew up, it was a land of Lilly and needlepoint,” said Smith of the bags. In her previous life in London, she had her own pocketbook line. Since she has been in the U.S., she runs the website The Stylish Sloane.

The bags have gone in and out of fashion over the years. In the 1980s, with the publication of The Preppy Handbook, they took on a new life, as they were made with buttons, so that one frame could be switched out with multiple bags.

She does not even try to manufacture them, and finds them at thrift stores like the Bluebird in Texas, as well as random flea markets. As a former prop stylist, she is used to finding good items at thrift and vintage stores.

She now has friends who find them and donate them to her, so that they continue to have a life. Friends say, “I’m just going to give them to you.”

She would like to still make them, but there are no makers, and many of the tools, and the talent to sew them, have completely disappeared. Brands sought included Pappagallo, Christine’s of Detroit and Eric’s Handbags. “You can’t manufacture in the U.S. like this,” said Smith, showing one of the bags. The craft element is disappearing, too. She said, for instance, that there are few needlepoint stores in the U.S. Another specialty of interest in Florida are alligator purses, which cannot be manufactured easily, as the skin was once endangered and is still protected. With alligator, she sticks to old brands like Vassar, as they are safe to legally buy and sell. 

When she gets the bags, she often gets a story to go with them. “I find coat checks and I find matchbooks,” said Smith. 

At top, Smith, with a Bermuda bag classic. Photo by Matt