At New York Fashion Week, Bag Charms Have Moved to the Neck

We had to know, on some level, that there would be a ceiling to the bag charms trend. One can only walk around looking like they robbed a Canal Street souvenir shop and sounding like Santa’s little helpers with all that jingling for so long. It was therefore little surprise when New York Fashion Week spring 2026 came and went, from September 11-16, with nary a bauble on a bag. It seems designers are saying purse charms are no more—but all is not lost for trinket enthusiasts. The ornaments are simply migrating from handles to chests. Neck charms are the next frontier.

In New York, the spring 2026 fashion season was characterized by real dressing, clothes for the everyday, for the school drop-offs and morning meetings, for the after-work drinks and date nights. It’s a schedule many of us can relate to—lugging three bags on the subway, but you don’t want to sit down because you’re only going two stops, and besides, you don’t want to crease your pants. If only you had another set of hands. Or another bag. Or another set of hands to hold another bag. With this latest offering, multiple designers are presenting an alternative: throw it around your neck.

We’re not just talking those run-of-the-mill, dainty necklaces you inherent from your parents or receive in a little box from your partner. Coach, Michael Kors, and TWP all sent models down the runway wearing functional, large-format jewelry. Coin purses adorned the necks of every one of Stuart Vevers’s models. Michael Kors’ leather neck pouches came in varying shapes, sizes, and colors; Trish Wescoat Pound of TWP showed necklaced leather goods while also suggesting you hang a pair of glasses on a cord for easy access. It’s not a new idea—in fact, The Row placed leather pouches around the necks of its models back in the pre-fall 2022 collection. But it is interesting to see how, years later, the trend is catching on in such a big way.

There is something inherently dorky about these accessories. The idea of carrying your essentials on a cord or chain brings to mind a tourist with their passport holder, or your aunt, who is tired of losing her readers. But just like fanny packs and visors before them, when styled correctly, these functional necklaces can be innovative, and even cool. Plus, they are exceptionally useful. There’s no denying that easy access to essentials is a luxury, and there’s nothing chic about digging through your overstuffed purse for a dollar bill to buy a quick water on the street. Instead, simply pull it out of your neck wallet.

But not all of the neck-charm offerings this season have been so utilitarian. At Tory Burch, Ralph Lauren, and Zankov, the necklaces were focused on ornamentation. Tory Burch’s beaded accessories culminated in shell-like containers, which you could hypothetically use as a pouch, but if you left them empty, they’d still make for nice accoutrements. In the show notes, the accessories are justified with the phrase, “More is more,” with Burch highlighting “pearls, glass flowers, and seed beads wrapped around twisted chains.” While last season, similar beads could be seen on bags, they’ve now drifted upward.

Zankov’s jewelry was created by designer Presley Oldham for the third season in a row. “We thought about a woman who collects objects as she moves through life, transforming them into talismans and jewelry that evokes memories,” read the show notes. “Murano glass, crystal quartz, Japanese silk, and antique seashell pill boxes are among the materials that create this body of work.” When the bag charm trend kicked off last year, many cited Jane Birkin and the way she adorned her namesake Hermès purse as inspiration. Zankov’s necklaces this season seem like one of the more successful evolutions of this trend, suggesting the next step could remain respectful of the source.

As we head into the rest of fashion month, it’ll be interesting to see whether these weighty necklaces make it past New York City. Perhaps bag charms will prove their staying power in Europe, and this necklace conversation ends on the streets of Manhattan. Either way, those who participated in the trend and piled charms on their purses have it easy. You’re free to either leave them there, or string them on a cord around your neck. We love a trend you can upcycle.