Looking for a brilliant accessory to move your style effortlessly to ‘summer 2025’ mode? Trust me when I say just one simple, ridiculously easy update will take you there, and here it is: just make it woven.
Whether it’s a capacious brown woven shoulder bag - the ‘Deliberate’ bag by Dune is the one - or a woven leather sandal – fisherman, mule, or ballerina style works – this textural update is a style win on two fronts. It nods to the laid-back boho mood sweeping through fashion, plus its light, durable and practical too.
The Icon
Ok, here’s a quick history lesson. The luxury Italian brand Bottega Veneta is the ground zero of all woven fashion accessory trends – in 1966 it invented the leather technique known as intrecciato, (or woven or braided in Italian) and they’ve been making their coveted long-lasting bags using it ever since. I’ve owned one for 15 years, and can testify.
The ‘why’ behind their invention is worth knowing too: whether a shoe or bag, a woven design creates a strong and durable product which is also soft and delicate, and as this is Good Housekeeping, I can only agree with a trend if it mixes glamour with practicality and durability.
As for the bags to know, I mentioned Dune’s ‘Deliberate’ – because this British brand has recently taken off in New York, where Katie Holmes has been seen carrying her extra-large version around the city. Dune also offers it in a large, a handbag size in various colours from white, gold and pewter and even a cute dinky evening size in bright orange and red.
Other bags to note are Lalo’s bright woven bags made from recycled PET plastic, Mint Velvet’s woven straw tote with giant tassel, and Cos’s elegant answer to the ‘Deliberate’ a chic oversized raffia tote in chocolate brown. If I didn’t already have something similar, the Cos version would have been added to basket by now.
The Bags
As for shoes, you really can take your pick – when it’s woven, chic comes built in. Next’s cream woven ballerina’s look worth triple their £42 price tag, Anthropolgie’s red woven high-heeled mules are the answer to summer nights out, and Charles & Keith’s woven sliders offer a Bottega Veneta mood for just £55.
The Shoes
Whichever woven item you choose, know that this is the easiest fashion investment you’ll make for summer 2025 , and better still, as Bottega Veneta proves, woven accessories never go out of style.
