Cast your mind back to 2005. Mariah Carey was on constant radio rotation, a little something called YouTube had just launched, and every cool girl was carrying the same handbag. The Chloé Paddington, of course—championed by the who’s who of noughties style icons: Kate Moss, Sienna Miller, Katie Holmes and Lindsay Lohan, to name but a few. Lohan was such a fan, in fact, that the bag even appeared alongside her Madame Tussauds wax figurine—surely the highest accolade for a mid-noughties fashion find.
Debuting as part of the Spring/Summer 2005 collection under then-creative director Phoebe Philo, the Paddington was a runaway success. So much so that American Vogue reported every one of the 8,000 made had sold out before they even hit the shop floor. Its signature brass padlock and slouchy shape became instantly recognisable—and a defining accessory of pop culture throughout the 2000s and early 2010s.
