This Viral Coach Purse Is 2023’s Wedding-Guest Bag

Welcome back to wedding season. We’ve returned to invitations crowding our inboxes and alerts to RSVP. Despite all this, we’re still struggling to find accessories to match our look for the first event. Comfy dancing shoes for outdoor soirées are a given, but finding the right bag? *groan* Where do we even begin? Thankfully, Coach’s Tabby Collection has all the latest plushy shoulder bags in a wide range of cheerful spring hues that’ll effortlessly complete any wedding guest ensemble.

If you haven’t already witnessed these adorable silhouettes surfacing on your FYP, it’s time to hop on the bandwagon. The brand’s Tabby Collection has become a viral sensation. On TikTok, #coachtabby has 23.2 million views, with the viral #pillowtabby at a growing 15.9 million views. Fashion enthusiasts are obsessed with the unveiling of the brand’s nostalgic designs in new creative styles and playful shades — and, following suit, I’m here to share with you why the Coach Tabby Bag is the ultimate spring wedding guest accessory for 2023.

While I’ll be solely focusing on the best-selling Pillow Tabby Shoulder Bag, I’ve highlighted other notable handbags from the collection. The bag I’ll be reviewing comes in two sizes: the smaller Pillow Tabby 18, which costs $395, and the larger Pillow Tabby 26, priced at $550. I’m a go-big-or-go-home type of shopper, so I opted to review the larger size. If you’re a fan of marshmallow-y padded puffer jackets, the Pillow Tabby has a similar feel to it. Coach put its magical spin on the classic style by adding playful pastel colors that evoke Y2K vibes.

Coach Pillow Tabby Shoulder Bag 18, $395

The structure of the Tabby Bags is an unmistakable nod to Coach’s iconic 1970s aesthetic. Its various styles, which range from messenger bags to crossbody wristlets, are largely crafted from polished Nappa leather, with select items made of canvas and translucent jelly purses, and each design has Coach’s signature hardware.

In addition to neutral hues, the stylish shoulder bags are available in a rainbow of candy-colored shades, like powder pink, sunny yellow, and violet. And the collection of pastel-hued handbags couldn’t have arrived at a better time, now that we’re transitioning into spring and searching for more brightly colored accessories. You can pay homage to this summer’s Barbie movie with a Barbiecore pink wristlet or invest in the bigger ivory Pillow Tabby for a handbag that’ll match any silhouette. 

Styling The Bag For Casual & Luxe Weddings

Does the handbag work for laid-back weddings? Absolutely. The Pillow Tabby gives off two different vibes, depending on how you style it. When I wore a tweed blazer, it looked chic and elevated. You could easily pair it with a pleated maxi skirt for casual weddings or a semi-formal affair. The ivory shade and padded aesthetic bring in a bit of softness, which suits dreamy nuptials. For a luxurious wedding, the darker-hued Pillow Tabby bags, like the brass/black and pewter/yellow gold would seamlessly match with your black-tie gowns.

The brand wasn’t also kidding when it called it the “Pillow bag.” The ultra-soft shoulder bag feels like a cloud, and it is super-lightweight to carry. The short strap comfortably rests on my shoulder, and it feels like a pillow when my arm rests against the cushy exterior.

What Fits Inside The Bag?

The plushness definitely engulfs the entire bag, but you can still fit the necessities. I used my fiancé’s wallet, work phone, apartment keys, and my compact to show that bigger items could fit. One thing worth noting is that the pocket in between the bag’s two sides only has room to hold thin items, like credit cards or maybe a pocket mirror. However, since the bag is so soft, there’s room if you really want to pack in more things with a little push — even in the back compartment, which I thought had less room than it actually does. At the same time, for most weddings, you tend to only carry simple items like a compact cushion, wallet, and your favorite lipstick.

When you first open the bag, there’s a longer strap inside, which you can attach, enabling you to wear it as a crossbody as well as a shoulder bag. The longer strap is ideal to loop on your chair, so your shoulder bag doesn’t keep falling on the ground if guests bump into it while walking between tables. Also, as an avowed organizer, I appreciated the two compartments inside the bag and the thin zippered pocket separating them. Realistically, I don’t know if I would use the pocket in between, but it’s nice to have some sort of divider. Maybe to hold a wedding card for the happy couple? I also carry only my necessities when I go out, and this bag is the perfect size for those with similarly minimalist packing styles.

Overall, it’s an adorable-looking bag to have in your collection. You can style it for weddings or other elevated events, or wear it on the daily. I can see why the TikTok queens and kings are obsessed with it. The only issue I had? After trying the cream hue, I want one in every shade.

Shop The Tabby collection at Coach

At Refinery29, we’re here to help you navigate this overwhelming world of stuff. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. All product details reflect the price and availability at the time of publication. If you buy or click on something we link to on our site, Refinery29 may earn commission.

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I’m A Queer Woman Who Doesn’t Wear Dresses — Here’s Why I’m Wearing One For My Wedding

Welcome to Aisle Style, a week-long series that features the most untraditional wedding fashion trends, bridal designers behind the coolest wedding looks, and brides who walk to the beat of their own “Canon In D.” Buck the tradition and say I do to personal style — the aisle is yours.

After getting engaged in November 2019, I knew two things were true — I was going to marry the love of my life, and finding a wedding outfit was going to be a daunting task. I’m what I like to call a leather jacket lesbian; I identify as a genderqueer androgynous woman (she/her), and I feel most like myself with a face full of colorful makeup and an outfit that gives step-on-you vibes (see: combat boots and mesh). 

I haven’t worn a dress in years, but suits don’t feel right either. I had found my gender-euphoric happy medium in jumpsuits, like the Dickies coveralls I wore to my Zoom minimony in 2020 on a roof in Brooklyn that preceded the forthcoming wedding celebration we are having in August of this year. As such, Lauren Morelli’s custom Christian Siriano jumpsuit look — which had a flowing cape, a structured deep-V, and a gorgeous pearl-and-crystal encrusted collar — was my jumping-off point for the classic and timeless look I envisioned wearing on my wedding day.

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At my first bridal appointment at a boutique near my apartment, after trying on a few gowns and a jumpsuit, a few things became clear: (1) I wanted an off-white outfit with beads and tulle, (2) there were no jumpsuit equivalents of timeless bridal gowns (instead, there were lots of pretty rompers designed for rehearsal dinners and bachelorette parties), and (3) I absolutely hated feeling like I was cosplaying as a princess. To add insult to injury, the cape I fell in love with was wildly outside of my $3,500 total outfit budget. I went home that evening and cried.

A month or so later, I booked an appointment at BHLDN, Anthropologie’s bridal offshoot. My stylist was stoked about my jumpsuit and cape fantasy, and I immediately fell for an ivory V-neck, wide-leg Sachin & Babi jumpsuit that I paired with a Jenny Yoo sheer dot cape. Though the jumpsuit — which fit my hourglass curves in all the right ways — was missing beads and tulle, the cape was almost-but-not-quite-right, and the overall look was less regal than I had hoped for, I felt like I had landed on the closest I was going to get to my initial vision.

And then my stylist asked me to humor her and try on a wedding gown. 

The dress she pulled was blush with intricate pearl beading and featured a low back, a deep V-neck, and a flowing tulle skirt. I slipped it on cautiously, my eyes glued to the floor, sure she was mistaken. When I finally looked in the mirror, I gasped. The reflection I saw wasn’t the pretty princess I was so adamantly avoiding, it was the fancy, regal, powerful queen of my dreams. As I walked down the hall to get a feel for the train, I cackled with glee and yelled, “I feel like Cersi, queen of the seven kingdoms!” 

After prancing around, I sat down with my best friends and mother who had accompanied me, to make a decision. I loved this dress, but it was a dress, and I had spent years screaming from the rooftops that I wasn’t going to wear a dress to my wedding. So, I clung to the comfort of the jumpsuit. 

That is until one of my friends, who is also a bride, suggested I get both — the dress for the ceremony and first dance and the jumpsuit for dancing. 

When I brought up the pressure I felt to look a certain way, she stopped me: “No, this is your wedding, you have to look like you.” I snuck back into the dressing room with her words rattling in my head and slipped on the dress again. I added some face rhinestones (yes, I always carry emergency rhinestones) and a mauve lip, took a deep breath, and, in the privacy of the room, I looked in the mirror. I started to laugh and cry simultaneously. The person I saw in the mirror wasn’t “timeless” or “classic,” she was something so much better — she was step-on-you-regal-hot, and she was me.

Together, the dress and the jumpsuit came to $2,000, leaving $1,500 for tailoring and shoes. I reminded myself that as a queer person, I didn’t owe anyone any kind of prescribed idea of androgyny and if this dress made me feel good, that was what androgyny would mean to me on my wedding day. I handed over my credit card and left giddy, with both the gown and jumpsuit in hand.

And so there it was, it wasn’t the dress that was the problem in my bridal gender expression, it was the unending pressure I felt to look like one of the adjectives pulled from the heteronormative codes that make up the mainstream wedding industry. But the truth is, I’m not supposed to look like anything. Instead, I should feel like the best, happiest version of myself, one who is going to marry the love of her life, albeit in a dress. 

When I walk down the aisle in August, I’ll be doing so in a beaded blush gown with chunky heels and a face full of face gems. Later that night, I’ll change into a sexy ivory jumpsuit and a pair of rhinestone pumps to dance the night away. And from dawn to dusk, I’ll look and feel exactly how I should at my wedding, like me.

At Refinery29, we’re here to help you navigate this overwhelming world of stuff. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. All product details reflect the price and availability at the time of publication. If you buy or click on something we link to on our site, Refinery29 may earn commission.

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The Cartier Tank Francaise Watch Renaissance Is Here

As is the case with so many wardrobe classics from the ‘90s (see: bike shorts-and-sweatshirt combos, oversized blazers), the appeal of Cartier’s Tank Française can be attributed to Princess Diana. Not long after the watch style, with its bracelet-style band and streamlined rectangular shape inspired by WWI battlefield tanks, debuted as part of Cartier’s existing “Tank” family in 1996, Lady Di wore one in solid gold. It quickly became the timepiece of choice for It Girls of the aughts like Gisele Bündchen and Nicky Hilton — and the women who wanted to dress just like them.

“It’s a symbolic piece of Cartier history from the late ‘90s, early ‘00s,” confirms Malaika Crawford, the style editor at watch website HODINKEE, recalling that friends of hers growing up in London coveted the Tank Française to mark special occasions like 18th birthdays and graduations. (Think of it as the Tiffany & Co. heart tag.) 

While in 2009, Tank Française cemented its US royalty status when former First Lady Michelle Obama wore a steel version for her official White House portrait, over the last decade, it has become eclipsed by Cartier’s flashier sister style Panthère, with its five-link bracelet —papped on celebrity wrists belonging to the likes of Bella Hadid and Dua Lipa. But there are signs that the style is now experiencing a comeback. 

In the last few years, celebrities like Meghan Markle (who reportedly got Princess Diana’s piece), Donald Glover, and Dakota Johnson have all sported the timepiece. Meanwhile, according to Rebag, Tank Française purchases have grown 5x year-over-year, with Cartier becoming the second best-selling watch brand on the luxury resale site after Rolex.

“The Cartier Tank Française was my first-ever luxury watch,” says Brynn Wallner, the mastermind behind the women’s watch site Dimepiece, who got her timepiece in 2021. “Before I started Dimepiece, I didn’t own a nice watch, and it got to a point where I was like, ‘Okay, I need to watch because everybody thinks I’m the watch girl and my wrist is bare.’”

Wallner spent a year muddling over which luxury watch to invest in first before deciding on the Tank Française in steel. “For women especially, we haven’t really developed our taste around watches in the way we have the fashion, where it’s kind of second nature,” she says. “Whereas with watches, it’s this brand-new category and you don’t even know the physicality of it, how it can fit on your wrist.” So what made the Tank Française the winner? Wallner points to the minimal watch style’s classic and streamlined shape: “It’s a beautiful piece of architecture without screaming from the rooftops about how amazing it is.”

“It’s just a super easy-to-wear watch,” echoes Crawford. “It’s not too big, it’s not too small, it’s got a very unisex feel, it doesn’t have a super distinctive style, so it’s super versatile.”

And, of course, there’s the price: While still very much a luxury good, the Tank Française provides a relatively affordable entry point to the market, with the small steel model starting at around $3,500, in comparison to, say, Rolex watches, which start closer to $5,000. (If you want to get a gold Tank, however, the price gets significantly higher, starting around $20k; tack on an extra $4 to $5k if you want one with diamonds along the face.)

That’s because most Tank Française styles feature quartz movements, powered by a battery, versus mechanical movements, fueled by kinetic energy, a small difference to most wearers but one that’s important to collectors and aficionados who see the former as slightly inferior, according to Crawford: “[That said,] I wouldn’t get too caught up in the weeds of the technical aspects — for an entry-level piece, you want something that you’re comfortable wearing.”

The watch is even more affordable on the secondhand market, where, the Tank Française retains 55% to 65% of its retail value, according to Elizabeth Layne, chief marketing officer of Rebag. “We think of the Tank as the watch version of the Love bracelet — the first one you get in your collection, the entry-level collector’s piece,” Layne says, referring to the brand’s popular bangle bracelet which is “locked” onto the wearer by a key. (In case you need a reminder, in perhaps the biggest pop culture moment for the style, Kylie Jenner once posted about being “stuck” in hers.)

According to Layne, the Tank Française is the most popular Cartier timepiece style at the moment, with gold ones selling the fastest. “We can’t keep them in stock,” Layne says. “Part of that is that the value play is that much greater.”

Adding to the Tank Française renaissance is the fact that Cartier reissued the style earlier this year, making slight tweaks — satin finishes instead of brushed metals, squaring off the rectangular face — to reintroduce the style to a new audience while staying true to its origins. “What’s clever about Cartier, and other brands that are very prestigious in the watch space, is they always make very incremental changes to their designs,” Crawford says. “[Yet] the design language that you’re so familiar with stays kind of the same so that it’s always recognizable.”

Another reason for the increase in popularity could be to do with the fact that the Tank Française leans more unisex in style. “It’s [equally] popular among men and women,” says Layne. “I do think the reissue almost leans even more into being more friendly for men, given that they’ve increased the size.” 

So could the Tank Française be perfectly positioned to become the next It watch? With its sleek, subtle design and price point, there is no better time. 

At Refinery29, we’re here to help you navigate this overwhelming world of stuff. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. All product details reflect the price and availability at the time of publication. If you buy or click on something we link to on our site, Refinery29 may earn commission.

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This Luxe Washable Sleepwear Is 20% Off Just For R29 Readers

Welcome to Aisle Style, a week-long series that features the most untraditional wedding fashion trends, bridal designers behind the coolest wedding looks, and brides who walk to the beat of their own “Canon In D.” Buck the tradition and say I do to personal style — the aisle is yours.

Wedding robes and PJs have become a massive part of the wedding industry, with everyone from major retailers to Etsy sellers offering garments to wear before the I do’s. This glut of getting ready apparel includes quite a few options that might be worn once then forgotten, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Enter Lunya, maker of some of the internet’s favorite washable silk wares. The brand’s recently launched bridal collection can be worn before and after the wedding, on the honeymoon, and long, long after. In fact, you don’t even have to be getting married or the wedding party to fall in love with the collection, which includes five colorways alongside the classic bridal whites and blues that nod to the “something borrowed, something blue” rhyme. And since everyone could use a little more glam in their lives, we scored an exclusive 20% off Lunya’s curated bridal offerings (excluding the already-disocounted bundle) with the promo code FOR-R29BRIDAL-20. 

You can deck out your whole wedding party in their preferred attire or even have multiple outfit changes of your own, thanks to these silk robes, lounge pant sets, and luxe accessories to help you relax on the wedding journey. (Take it from our affiliate fashion writer who’ll be getting married next month and is already wearing Lunya’s sleepwear to calm her nerves.)  Shop for your bride-to-be bestie, bridesmaids, your mom for Mother’s Day, or just yourself. All shades, from sky blue to pastel green, will be eligible for the discount. Let’s start shopping for some Lunya silk pajamas, shall we?

Shop Our Favorite Bridal Collection Picks

Washable Silk Set, $188 $150.40

“I was introduced to Lunya when I visited one of its pop-up events earlier this year. I scored a pajama set and was so thankful I did. The hype of its ultra-soft and luxe sleepwear is real. The long pants and long-sleeve set is continuously in my sleepwear rotation. However, the weather in NYC has been getting warmer than I expected, and the Washable Silk Set is a life safer for the brief glimpses of summer nights. With a wedding approaching at a fast speed, I’ll take any of Lunya’s cloud-like sleepwear to get me to sleep peacefully.”

“Right out of the packaging, the pajama set is buttery soft, almost suede-like. After wearing it for the first time on a Monday at 10 AM, I was ready to go back to bed and catch up on some ZZZs. The set draped effortlessly, as both pieces are pull-on without no buttons, and the shorts have a comfy elastic waist. I opted for a size medium and found it to have the perfect amount of room to lounge in. Mind you, the shorts are itty bitty if you’re used to wearing a longer length. However, I didn’t mind since I’ll wear the shorts at home. When it comes to the tank top I can’t promise you I’ll only wear it to sleep, as it could easily appear in one of my spring/summer outfits.”

At Refinery29, we’re here to help you navigate this overwhelming world of stuff. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. All product details reflect the price and availability at the time of publication. If you buy something we link to on our site, Refinery29 may earn commission.

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