From Chanel 2.55 to Lady Dior: Why quilted bags remain fashion icons 70 years on

Style & Beauty

From Chanel’s iconic 2.55 to today’s oversized, pillowy designs, quilting has evolved beyond its classic diamond stitches into one of fashion’s most recognisable handbag signatures.

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10 Nov 2026 07:30AM

The most intriguing handbag at Chanel's Spring/Summer 2027 show last month wasn't new. It was Gabrielle Chanel's own 2.55, borrowed from the house's patrimoine (French for heritage) archives and carried by model Dyanira Hurbuscher, who opened and closed Matthieu Blazy's show with the historic piece.

First launched in February 1955 (hence its name), the 2.55 introduced design details that continue to inspire even today.

Take its soldiers' bag-inspired shoulder strap, for instance, which allowed women to go hands-free at a time when clutches and top-handle bags were the norm.

Then there was the quilting. Inspired by Chanel's love of horse riding and equestrian coats and covers, the diamond pattern would become one of the house's most recognisable signatures. More than 70 years later, it remains a visual shorthand for luxury, even as other designers have taken quilting in directions Chanel might never have imagined.

THE SHAPE OF THINGS

What quilting actually looks like on a bag, however, comes down to more than the stitches you can see. Much of its shape and texture, unsurprisingly, depends on what lies beneath them.

Softer leathers and generous padding create fuller, rounder surfaces, while firmer materials keep the lines cleaner and more controlled. Meanwhile, synthetics like nylon and polyester can take quilting in a lighter, sportier direction.

Thus, two bags can share the same quilted pattern and still look – and feel – almost nothing alike.

HOUSE STYLE

Quilting was hardly Chanel's alone, of course, and other houses developed their own recognisable geometric signatures. Dior's cannage, for instance, took inspiration from something less obvious than a handbag archive: chairs.

The Napoleon III-style seats used at 30 Avenue Montaigne featured a lattice of squares crossed by diagonals, giving cannage a more rigid, architectural quality than Chanel's softer diamond grid. The motif would go on to appear on perfume bottles, tweed and, fittingly, the Lady Dior, introduced in 1995.

Miu Miu's matelasse, meanwhile, takes quilting in a more gathered, almost ruched direction – an example of a house developing a signature texture that can be recognised almost as quickly as its logo.

Seen on the Coffer bag from Miuccia Prada's Fall/Winter 2006 era, the technique gives leather a puckered, rippling surface that looks more gathered than stitched.

Since then, it has appeared on bags including the Wander and Arcadie, changing in scale and colour while remaining distinctly Miu Miu.

By contrast, Saint Laurent's 2017 LouLou by Anthony Vaccarello replaced quilting's familiar diamonds with Vs in a chevron pattern, giving an otherwise soft and feminine flap bag a little more backbone.

Marc Jacobs' Stam, which emerged from his Fall/Winter 2005 era and has since been revived, took a different approach. Its quilted leather, ladylike shape and chunky hardware gave it the slightly retro, slightly excessive charm that made it a Noughties favourite – and a fitting candidate for a comeback.

PUFF PIECES

If heritage houses used quilting to establish recognisable signatures, a newer wave of designers began playing with the padding itself, exaggerating its proportions to sometimes almost comical effect.

At Bottega Veneta, Daniel Lee's Padded Cassette turned the house's familiar woven geometry into thick, rounded panels, making the bag look almost cushioned. Louis Vuitton's 2022 Bubblegram collection did something similar with its Monogram, using embroidery and padding to give the familiar motif a softer, cloud-like finish.

Cos, too, played with inflation. Its 2021 quilted bag, made from recycled polyester and popularised after Blackpink's Jennie carried one, became enough of a phenomenon to rank as the third-hottest product in Lyst's Q3 2023 Index.

The fast-selling style even picked up the unofficial nickname "the Jennie bag" – despite looking nothing like the polished leather flap bags that had defined quilted handbags for decades.

And yet, for all these reinventions, the classic diamond quilt still carries a particular association with luxury. Part of it comes from the pattern itself: the repeated geometry gives padded leather depth and structure without letting it look too soft or shapeless. The rest can be chalked up to cultural memory.

Quilting may now come gathered, chevroned, oversized or puffed up enough to resemble upholstery, but more than 70 years of Chanel being Chanel have trained us to see a diamond quilt and think luxury before we've even registered a logo.

Chances are, too, that we'll be reminded of the original 2.55.

Source: CNA/yy