Katie Holmes has officially traded barrel-leg jeans for a new style hyperfixation, and I have to say: She cooked with this indie designer find. On Friday, Oct. 25, The Dawson's Creek star—who is currently enjoying a turn on Broadway in a revival of Our Town—covered her purple shirt and sweatpants with a black double-breasted wool coat to grab coffee on the way to the gym.
The star of this look, however, isn't her perfect fall coat. It's her slim white leather Bevza tote bag: the purse she can't seem to stop carrying. By my count, she's worn it at least six times with wine-red ballet flats, patchwork jeans, striped sweaters, pleated skirts, and more, easily making it her most-worn bag of the month.
After seeing Katie Holmes style it for so many different contexts, from work to errands and leisurely outings, I'm certainly beginning to see why it has a hold on her. For starters, this 100 percent leather design has something very few tote bags have in this day and age: long, narrow-yet-sturdy straps that are fully adjustable. It also features a decorative brass spikelet that basically functions as a built-in piece of jewelry. The color is not a true white so much a dusty ivory, meaning the scuffs and grime it will necessarily pick up as it's worn around New York City will all but blend in. And crucially, it has a magnetic clasp to keep the chaos of your bag safely contained.
Holmes further accessorized the look with brown gradient aviator sunglasses and a pair of Pony sneakers she was spotted wearing last week on a walk with her daughter, Suri Cruise. She styled the shoe a bit differently for that stroll, in a camel-colored longline coat and a gray sweatsuit. But even then, she wore the same Bevza tote and pilot sunglasses, which certainly look a bit like Ray Bans from afar.
I've yet to track down the exact black coat she's wearing, but within the last month, she's worn a butter yellow peacoat from Banana Republic and the aforementioned long brown jacket from The Frankie Shop. Both labels offer similar options in black wool, but COS also makes a solid substitution with a trendy standing collar that retails for less than $400—a steal by most standards.
The most delightful thing about Katie Holmes and her ever-rotating fall wardrobe is that, more often than not, she eschews lofty designer pulls in favor of relatively affordable pieces from the likes of La Ligne, Falconeri, Yuni Buffa, ViBi Venezia, A.P.C., and Aligne. I suppose that's what makes her such a formidable street style muse. Most of what she wears is actually achievable, instead of purely aspirational.
