The Bag I Want Is One Bag With A Whole Wardrobe

One for day. One for dinner. One for summer. One for when I'm pretending I have my life together. Eventually the bags start multiplying and suddenly I'm storing handbags inside other handbags, which feels less like fashion and more like a cry for help.

Images via @delanthecreations @isadorabastoss

So naturally, I'm interested in a bag that was basically invented to solve the problem.

Meet the Bermuda Bag

Dé Lanthe's Bermuda bag first appeared in the 1970s with a clever idea: keep the structure, change the cover.

The original design used a single walnut frame with interchangeable covers, meaning the same bag could completely change depending on the color, texture, or print you put over it. The brand became closely associated with American prep style throughout the '70s and '80s, even appearing on the cover of Women's Wear Daily.

Images via @rosenoraanna freepeople.com

And then, in 1985, dé Lanthe disappeared.

Until now.

The Interchangeable Part Is Genius

There is something very satisfying about fashion that gives you options without asking you to buy an entirely new object every time you get bored.

The revived Bermuda keeps its hand-cut black walnut frame but brings in a new wardrobe of covers in different colors, textures, and patterns. The idea is still wonderfully simple: one recognizable shape, multiple personalities.

Images via @delanthecreations

It also makes the bag feel much less disposable. Instead of buying another handbag because your current one suddenly feels wrong with your wardrobe, you can change the part you're looking at.

Which is exactly the kind of old-fashioned cleverness I would like to see more of.

Prep, But Make It Collectible

The Bermuda bag already had a pretty impressive social life the first time around.

Dé Lanthe collaborated with Lilly Pulitzer and shoe designer Jacques Cohen, while some of its interchangeable covers were produced for Pappagallo boutiques. The bag became part of that colorful, slightly maximalist American prep universe that makes vintage fashion feel so much more fun than a Pinterest board full of beige.

The new version leans into that history rather than pretending it never happened.

Images via delanthe.com

Allison Hyers, the brand's current creative director and daughter-in-law of founder Delores “Dee” Hyers, went back through the Fairchild Archives to rediscover old WWD covers and advertisements from the brand's original era.

That makes this revival feel less like someone found an old name and slapped it onto a new product. The archive is actually part of the design conversation.

I Want the Bag to Change Before I Do

There is something particularly appealing about the Bermuda now, because the way we shop has changed so much since its original run.

We are constantly being encouraged to buy the new version, the next color, the next shape, the next bag that supposedly fixes everything about the bags we already own. A piece designed to evolve instead feels almost rebellious.

Images via delanthe.com

And yes, the fact that it is a vintage American prep relic being revived for 2027 makes it even more delicious.

The Bermuda bag is back, but it doesn't really feel like a nostalgia exercise. It feels like someone looked at an old idea and realized it was already smarter than most of the new ones.