Is there any point putting an out of office on your emails when you go on holiday any more? “I won’t have access to emails.” Yeah, right. Sorry, you aren’t fooling anyone: no one goes on holiday without their phone in 2025. Your office know perfectly well that if you don’t answer emails, they can still reach you by text or direct message. Even, theoretically, by actually calling you, although obviously that won’t happen because that’s another thing that no one does in 2025. Tweak your out of office message as much as you like – you might as well stick your fingers in your ears.
No, the best way to set your brain to holiday mode is by signing out of your Work Bag. Swapping the bag you take on your daily commute for a free-and-easy alternative is more effective as a psychological gear change than logging out of your emails. In day-to-day life, I change handbags as rarely as possible, the potential for leaving keys in an inside pocket and getting locked out being just too real. But when you get home after work and you aren’t going back for a week or two, there is something very pleasing about marking that moment by throwing away leaky pens, marvelling at how you managed to accumulate 14 hairbands, and then shaking the bag over the bin and feeling disproportionately thrilled when a pound coin falls out. Stashing the bag – with your office pass inside – is very out of sight and out of mind.
Your “holiday” bag, whether you are home or away, sets the tone for how you spend your break. I switch to a bag that’s bigger than my work bag, because if I’m waiting for a bus or eating a sandwich I get to read my book rather than doing emails. But if you carry your laptop around with you on a work day, freedom might feel like a smaller bag, not a bigger one.
My dream handbag – well, apart from a Hermès Birkin – is a straw basket, which to me is the essence of summer. When I sling a basket bag over my shoulder, I swear my pulse rate slows. If I’m not working, I don’t want the rush-hour-tube energy of shiny hardware and a zip fastening, and the artisanal, pottering-about vibe of a basket is the perfect antidote. On holiday, I take a big one that maxes out the under-the-seat-in-front-of-you space on a plane, which has room for a swimsuit rolled up in a cotton towel, as well as a book.
To save rummaging, I pop in a brightly coloured pouch to keep money, keys, phone – something pretty that I can keep on my lap or on the table at lunch, to save being constantly vigilant of valuables in the basket at my feet.
For summer days at home, I cannot tell you how much I love my Sézane Farrow Bag, £130. This has room for what you need, without being so big that you can’t find anything, and has an elegant but functional leather drawstring to keep it secure if you have to take the tube. This is the third summer I’ve used it and it is as strong as it was when I bought it, while many lesser bags have unravelled or have straps that look in danger of snapping.
What’s in the bag matters too. Summer dressing being simpler, accessories are an outfit-maker.
Take sunglasses. The right sunglasses have the power to bestow instant cool and glamour upon you in the way that no other accessory (or anything you can wear, actually) can do. I am generally wary of trends in shades – it is hard to beat the classic Ray-Ban Wayfarer style, which looks great on almost everyone, men and women – but I’m making an exception, this year, for the angular cat eye style that is everywhere. & Other Stories have an excellent pair that come in black, tortoiseshell, off-white and various other colours, for a pleasing £27. Plus they seem to create cheekbones on those of us not blessed.
Basket on your shoulder, shades on your nose. OOO activated.
Nails: Sophie Higginson using Chanel Le Vernis in Faussaire and Chanel La Crème Main. Model: Amaka at Milk Management. Dress, £79, Nobody’s Child. Bag, £45, Phase Eight. Towel, £35, Boden. Fluffy bag charm, £39, Dune. Pez bag charm, £175, Anya Hindmarch. Sunglasses, £16, River Island. Shoes, £49.99, Zara