A handbag is often just that until it swings from the arm of the celebrity or model-of-the-moment, then it takes on an other-worldly appeal and becomes aspirational. When the Chanel quilted union jack bag berthed at Agyness Deyn’s shoulder, punk deluxe was born. Soon she was carrying it everywhere and you couldn’t prize it out of her hands. Her cool factor depended on it, and vice versa. I mean, Chanel doing punk is like Gwyneth doing Kentucky Fried Chicken. They’re at the opposite ends of the lifestyle spectrum. But if Chanel want a real PR coup, they should give the bag to my impeccably-suited granny and snap her on her way to her Chelsea Luncheon Club – now that would be punk.

The good old union jack is a fashion trump card. The emblem of the Establishment, with rules and regulations

governing its use, it was used by the Sex Pistols as way of flouting convention. Punk enforced the message and fashion will always be able to capitalize on the rebellion. Even if, ironically, at £835 this Chanel handbag is as far from the anti-consumerist tenets of punk, where you’re more likely to carry around a bashed up satchel bag held together with safety pins than a smart new handbag. No one cares about that now - the banks are collapsing, there isn’t a whiff of punk in the charts, the originals are either dead or middle aged, and as for the safety pins – you wait, Chanel will soon being doing those too.

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