By the time you attend Australian Fashion Week for the third year in a row, you learn very quickly that the right handbag matters.
Not just aesthetically – although that helps when your days are spent darting between runway shows, backstage appointments and last-minute dinners – but practically. You need something that works just as hard as you do. Something that can survive airport terminals, overloaded tote bag syndrome and long Sydney days that somehow start with coffee meetings and end at afterparties.
Which is probably why, like most New Zealanders with a deep appreciation for a really good handbag, I’ve always been a Deadly Ponies loyalist.
In fact, my first ever “big girl” handbag was a Deadly Ponies – a bag I still use to this day. It was the first piece that made me understand the difference between simply owning a handbag and owning something genuinely well-crafted. Years later, that same appreciation followed me across the Tasman for another week of Australian Fashion Week chaos.
This season, the Mr Miro in Spruce became my airport bag. Big enough to carry the usual fashion week essentials — laptop, chargers, beauty products I swore I’d use, approximately seven lip products, cameras and a passport permanently sitting in the front pocket – but still polished enough to throw over tailoring and instantly feel put together. The deep green shade also felt like a welcome shift away from the sea of predictable black totes moving through Sydney Airport.
Then there was the Mr Midimese in Java Suede, which quickly became my everyday fashion week companion. Soft enough to feel relaxed but structured enough to carry my laptop around Sydney without collapsing into chaos, it slotted seamlessly into the wardrobe I inevitably end up building during fashion week: oversized blazers, sunglasses permanently on indoors and clothing chosen entirely around comfort disguised as effort.
There’s something about suede right now that feels especially relevant. Across both the runways and the street style scene, fashion seems to be moving away from anything too polished or overtly “luxury”. Instead, people are gravitating towards texture, warmth and pieces that feel personal rather than performative. The Mr Vault in Java Suede tapped perfectly into that mood – understated, tactile and impossibly easy to wear.
The same could be said for the Mr Vault Tote Mini in Java Suede, which felt designed for the kind of person who somehow manages to look effortlessly composed while carrying their entire life around with them.
For evening, the Mr Chopalopagus Mini in Black Bulle Brass shifted things into a slightly sharper direction. Compact, sculptural and finished with bold brass hardware, it had that rare ability to make even the simplest outfit feel intentional.
Meanwhile, the Mr Jagger in Jade Burnish brought a subtle hit of colour into the mix – proof that accessories don’t need to scream to stand out.
What I kept coming back to throughout the week was how naturally Deadly Ponies fits into the reality of fashion people’s wardrobes. These aren’t bags that exist purely for photographs or trend cycles. They’re bags you actually live with. Bags that get thrown onto café floors between shows, carried through airports, stuffed under seats and somehow still look better with age.
And honestly, after three years of Australian Fashion Week, I think that’s the kind of luxury people want now.
Explore the full collection via Deadly Ponies.
Images: Hope Patterson
