The Tote Is Wrong for Autumn and Jenna Dewan Has Demonstrated Why

Jenna Dewan was photographed in New York on September 2 wearing a bright orange peplum top with a matching skirt and tan thong kitten heels.

The detail that made it work was the smallest thing she was carrying. Instead of a roomy holdall she had a petite burgundy bag, and it is the reason the whole outfit reads as considered rather than merely coordinated.

Why the small bag wins here

The logic is about proportion and colour rather than capacity.

An outfit in a single strong colour is already doing a great deal, and adding a large bag in a neutral tone flattens it. Adding a small one in a deep, contrasting shade does the opposite: it functions as punctuation.

Burgundy against bright orange is the specific choice worth stealing. The two are close enough on the colour wheel to feel deliberate and far enough apart in depth to create contrast, and burgundy is the shade that signals autumn without anybody having to wear brown.

Goes with everything and holds way more than it looks

The affordable version

Her exact bag has not been identified. A close equivalent is the Kalidi slouchy vegan suede hobo, which costs 29 dollars.

It captures the same small-but-substantial effect through a soft shape, a curved silhouette and a rich burgundy finish. It also comes in chocolate brown, beige, army green and several other shades, which matters more than it sounds for a bag at this price: buying two is a realistic option.

The soft suede texture is what does the heavy lifting. Suede, real or otherwise, reads as expensive in a way that flat synthetic leather does not, and it is why this style dresses up jeans and knitwear rather than simply accompanying them.

It holds more than it looks

The usual objection to downsizing is that a small bag is a small bag, and this is where the reviews are worth reading.

The interior is roomier than the silhouette suggests, with a zipped pocket and two slip pockets, which is the feature that separates a usable small bag from one where the keys migrate to the bottom and stay there.

One buyer described it as their everyday go-to, saying it goes with everything and holds far more than it looks, listing a laptop, a wallet and a water bottle. Another reported getting a great many compliments on it.

A bag that takes a laptop is not really a small bag. It just looks like one, which is the entire trick being performed here.

The wider shift

There is a pattern behind this that has been building for a couple of seasons.

The oversized bag belonged to a particular way of working and moving around a city, where the assumption was that a person left the house in the morning carrying everything they might need until they returned. Laptop, gym kit, second pair of shoes, lunch.

That assumption has loosened, and bags have followed it. The small structured shape and the soft slouchy one have both returned, and the reason is not that anyone has less to carry. It is that the day is less likely to be a single uninterrupted expedition.

What to take from it

The broader point survives the specific purchase.

The oversized tote became standard because it is practical, and practicality is a perfectly good reason to own one. What it is not is flattering to an outfit, and most people carry one every day by default rather than by decision.

Dewan's version of the argument is that for the occasions where the outfit is the point, a small bag in a rich colour will do more work than a large one in a safe one.

At 29 dollars, that is an inexpensive proposition to disagree with.