The Bag I've Worn for 9 Years in a Row

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(Image credit: @kristenmarienichols)

Flashback to 2006. I’m flipping through Vogue and singularly fascinated with one fashion campaign. Daria Werbowy shot by Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel on the streets of New York City. Werbowy is wearing the brand’s classic tweed done up in a white dress trimmed with pearls, but the real hero piece is the iconic bag: Chanel’s 2.55 reissue.

The style had come out the year before that shoot, and what really got me was the history of it, a throwback to the original version designed by Coco Chanel herself. The 2.55 stands for February 1955, its initial debut. Unlike other Chanel flap bags, it has a unique chain strap sans leather, and instead of an interlocking CC clasp, a “mademoiselle lock”—named so because Coco Chanel never married. And my favorite part: a hidden zipper compartment in the back where Coco would store her love letters.

Fast-forward to a summer sometime later, when I was living in Paris and, after years of obsessing over the bag, finally got one for myself. An investment, yes. But a great one. Of every bag in my closet, this is the one I carry with me everywhere, pack on every trip, will have for more years to come, and even wore to my very first Chanel show a few months ago. I consider it my best investment piece yet.

When I became enamored with the bag

Back in 2006 when Karl Lagerfeld shot Daria Werbowy carrying the 2.55 reissue bag for the Chanel campaign. I still think about these images all the time.

When I finally had my own

A snap of me wearing my bag during Paris Fashion Week last season. This is the only bag I packed, and I wore it to every single show, meeting, and dinner.

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Shop my edit of Chanel 2.55 bags

Next, read about the biggest shoe trends of the season.

Associate Director, Special Projects

Kristen Nichols is the Associate Director, Special Projects at Who What Wear with over a decade of experience in fashion, editorial, and publishing. She oversees luxury content and wedding features, and covers fashion within the luxury market, runway reporting, shopping features, trends, and interviews with leading industry experts. She also contributes to podcast recordings, social media, and branded content initiatives. Kristen has worked with brands including Prada, Chanel, MyTheresa, and Luisa Via Roma, and rising designers such as Refine and Tove, and her style has been featured in publications including Vogue.com, Vogue France, WWD, and the CFDA. Before Who What Wear, Kristen began her career at Rodarte, where she worked on assistant styling, photo shoots, and runway shows, and at Allure, where she moved into print and digital editorial. She graduated from the University of Southern California, where she studied art history and business, and currently lives in New York.