Chloe Tote Bag Medium

A part of the Left Bank intellectual crowd who shared her mother’s fondness for fashion, Chloé cofounder Gaby Aghion was inspired to empower independent working women to break from the conservative dress of the 1950s and don more free-spirited, feminine designs that were appropriate for both work and social life.

Born in Alexandria, Egypt, Aghion established her fashion house in Paris in 1952 with her business partner Jacques Lenoir to develop her own source of income, separate from her husband’s. She was one of the first designers to embrace the concept of luxury prêt-à-porter as a middle ground between haute couture and off-the-rack for the masses.

In 1964, Aghion hired a fledgling Karl Lagerfeld as a designer. The pair would bring Chloé into the international spotlight with their easy yet glamorous lines that drew such fans as Jacqueline Kennedy. Lagerfeld became the staff creative lead at Chloé in 1974 and stayed with the brand until 1983, during which time he became known for his romantic silk dresses that continued Aghion’s feminine vision and were a favorite of the “rich hippie” set. In 1988, then-unknown designer Martine Sitbon took the helm of Chloé for several years before Lagerfeld returned as creative director from 1992 to 1997, drawing all of the iconic 1990s supermodels to his runway.

After his second departure, Chloé tapped yet another early-career designer to lead the label: a punky 25-year-old Stella McCartney, who earned the position not because of her famous lineage (she’s the daughter of Paul and Linda McCartney), but because of her fashion education at Central Saint Martins and work experience on London’s Savile Row and at Christian Lacroix. Following McCartney’s exit to launch her own line in 2001 — not long after introducing the diffusion label See by Chloé that year — Chloé named Phoebe Philo to the post.

Under Philo’s leadership, Chloé expanded from women’s clothing to an accessories line — including handbags — and debuted the legendary Paddington bag in 2005. The padlocked satchel, notorious for weighing a hefty three pounds while empty, became one of the “It bags” of the decade (the brand’s double-handled Marcie holds its own in that regard); the entire 8,000-bag initial production run sold out via preorders.

Philo left Chloé in 2006; her successors include, among others, Clare Waight Kelle and Natacha Ramsay-Levi, who announced that she would be departing the house in late 2020. Part of Chloé’s decades-long lasting influence — which we’d like to speculate would appease Aghion greatly — is the brand’s dedication as a career-launching platform for newbie designers, particularly women.

Browse an extraordinary inventory of vintage Chloé handbags, day dresses, shoes and more on 1stDibs.

From classic medium-sized Louis Vuitton leather tote bags to authentic cube-like Loewe shoulder bags woven in raffia, the large selection of vintage and designer tote bags on 1stDibs offers something for special occasions as well as everyday needs.

Although part of a modern look, tote bags have been roomy and versatile accessories since at least 1944, with the launch of L.L.Bean’s “ice bag.” The Maine retailer, then largely known for rugged field coats and hunting shoes, had introduced a big, durable canvas bag that was initially intended to carry firewood or ice. In those days, to keep produce and other foods cool in refrigerators, consumers had to regularly replace the blocks of ice that were doing all the work in their bulky appliances. There was no better bag to help haul big blocks of ice from the trunk of your car to your front door and, subsequently, to your kitchen.

Years later, during the 1960s, L.L.Bean’s Boat and Tote was introduced as an overhauled structured canvas version of the ice bag. Tested to lug up to 500 pounds, the Boat and Tote became a best seller. Also during the 1960s, American designer Bonnie Cashin created the Cashin Carry for Coach. Cashin was Coach’s first lead designer, and she liked leather, large pockets and earth tones. Her modern interpretation of the tote bag introduced a touch of elegance to this increasingly ubiquitous accessory.

In the subsequent decades, more brands debuted their own iterations of the tote bag, from Tory Burch’s Perry leather tote bag to Goyard’s luxurious Saint Louis. 

Pay tribute to this long and interesting history of a well-loved accessory by browsing the vintage and designer tote bags on 1stDibs.