Selena Gomez’s black handbag is the embodiment of quiet luxury

With Australians already thinking about ways to spruce up their winter wardrobes, Selena Gomez is providing the right kind of inspiration. Yesterday the actress, singer and Rare Beauty founder stepped out in New York—a week after swanning around in a wedding dress on the streets of the Upper West Side while filming Hulu’s Only Murders In the Building—and wore an outfit that adhered to her love of monochromatic style with a wearable bent.

The focal point is arguably Gomez’s black faux-fur trench coat, from affordable Spanish retailer Mango, but it’s her briefcase bag by heritage leather brand Delvaux that ups the ante with a pared-back sophistication.

If you haven’t heard, ‘quiet luxury’ is the latest movement to take the fashion world by storm and was a key takeaway from the recent autumn/winter ’23/’24 shows. Brands that previously danced with ‘logomania’ presented more pared-back approaches this season, from Balenciaga’s logo-free bags to Loewe’s shoulder-slung suede totes in understated hues. The popularity of Bottega Veneta’s totes, which are identified by the brand’s buttery woven leather instead of obvious branding, are a case in point. In that sense, Gomez caught our eye by choosing a look that does the opposite of clamouring for our attention.

It’s been a busy few weeks for Gomez, who continues to film the third season of Only Murders alongside co-stars Steve Martin and Martin Short. In a January interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, she revealed she’s also working on her fourth solo album, three years after the release of her previous record Rare. Gomez also used the name of the record for her beauty brand, launched that September, and mentioned in an interview with Vogue Australia that the word holds a special significance.

“When I first heard [the word using in the single ‘Rare’] with Nolan [Lambroza], one of the writers, I just said this is what I want to feel about myself. So it wasn’t even necessarily like: ‘Oh, I feel that way, let me sing it.’ It was almost like: ‘Actually, I need to feel that way about myself.’”