the times | Wednesday February 23 2022 5fashion
This bag from the
small Berlin-based
label Agneel,
available in an
ultra-chic brown
mock croc, is
one of the best
I have come across for a while
at a mid-price point (£422,
agneel.com). The quality is beautiful
— it’s suede-lined and everything —
and it’s entirely stealth.investment from the luxury
conglomerate Kering (incidentally the
parent company of Gucci).
I’ve had a handbag-mecca moment.
Some of my London Fashion Week
contemporaries have too — they also
used Hurr and another platform,
Hirestreet. I was offered a trial of
Cocoon’s Flexi membership, which
would usually cost £19 a year plus a
per-week rental charge (£35 or £40,
depending on whether said bag is in
the “premium” or “deluxe” collections
respectively). You get five rentals a
year with the subscription. Even if one
was to hire only “deluxe” bags, at most
it would cost £219 annually. Keep in
mind that this is to carry styles that
cost thousands of pounds to buy and
come with a waiting list.
Not that the most covetable bags are
easy to get your hands on at Cocoon.
While it reports that it has thousands
of bags with “a minimum of ten units
behind key styles”, the hottest styles, it
concedes, “get snapped up faster than
the rest”. All of Chanel’s bags are “out
with members” at present, ditto most
of Celine’s and Dior’s. Members can
set up a wish list and notifications forcash injection but a British handbags-
for-hire platform called Cocoon. It
may look right at home slung over my
shoulder, but is mine for only seven
days. In fact, I have to send it back
tomorrow. So long, fair Gucci.
First there was Blockbuster video,
then Airbnb — now you can borrow
the sort of arm candy that to buy
outright would cost more than three
nights in an apartment in Barca —
welcome to the next wave of the rental
revolution. You can stash your wallet,
keys and hand sanitiser in it ( just
watch it doesn’t leak). Designer bag
rental is taking over in the style set
and Cocoon is leading the charge.
Forget remortgaging your house
or saving up to buy one designer
bag in plain black or brown. Like the
big-brand dresses that Hurr and My
Wardrobe HQ loan to their customers
at a fraction of the retail price, Cocoon
offers its clients bags from Chanel,
Celine, Prada, Dior and the like for
less than £50 a week. Founded by the
former Net-a-Porter and Vestiaire
Collective honcho Ceanne Fernandes-
Wong, it was given the high fashion
seal of approval last year: anIt bag? Try £40 a week
COVER: GETTY IMAGES; BELOW: CHRIS MCANDREW FOR THE TIMES; KATE MARTIN FOR THE TIMES MAGAZINEHandbags to hirewhen a bag is coming back, but the
wait may be up to a month — more if
you aren’t quick off the mark. It’s why
50 new Chanel bags are being added
to the site soon; Cocoon says it
monitors member behaviour and
reacts to meet demand.
The appeal for me was not in the
classics but the look-at-me versions of
them. I wanted something in seasonal,
trend-led colours that I’d never buy.
Older generations may consider this
approach a bit naff, but women my age
boast about renting. I hire going-out
tops, party dresses, holiday clothes.
There are caveats. Handbag wear-
and-tear is covered by Cocoon but
serious damage, loss or theft is up to
the renter to cover. I wouldn’t take a
rented bag out clubbing. Bar that
consideration, it’s easy. Bags are
delivered by courier and Cocoon
schedules their collection. You can
extend your rental if desired and there
is an option to buy the bags, some
styles at a discount.
A nice idea, but that would deny me
my favourite bit of the rental process:
sending the item back.
Instagram: @hannahlouiserogersAbove: clockwise,
Prada, £1,400;
Loewe, £1,500;
Chanel, £6,630;
and Saint
Laurent, £1,215All available
to rent from
£35 per week at
cocoon.clubAnna Murphy’s pick£395, strathberry.com£345, russellandbromley.co.uk£145, essentiel-antwerp.com£130, jigsaw-online.com£99, allsaints.comThe best under £400Gucci
Hannah: I rented it
for £40 a week
By Hannah Skelley
£385, kaai.eu£29.99, zara.com