Kate Moss and Alexa Chung handbags on show at V&A

Handbags used by Kate Moss and Alexa Chung are to go on show at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

They will join almost 300 accessories in the exhibition Bags: Inside Out, featuring designer handbags, despatch boxes, vanity cases and military rucksacks.

Moss’s bag is the Mulberry Bayswater, which launched in 2003.

The Alexa, dating from 2010, was inspired by Chung.

Curator Lucia Savi said: “The Bayswater and Alexa bags are two of Mulberry’s most recognisable and timeless designs.

“Kate Moss was often seen carrying Mulberry bags, including this Bayswater – her association with this design helped it to become the quintessential icon it is today.

“The Alexa was inspired by British broadcaster and model Alexa Chung carrying a Mulberry men’s briefcase and the result was a practical and fashionable leather satchel for women. It is a modern example of how celebrities can inspire bag design.”

The exhibition will also include the first-made Hermes Birkin bag owned by singer Jane Birkin,  which, curators say, has “become an undeniable symbol of wealth and luxury”.

Previously announced bags include one carried by Sex And The City character Carrie Bradshaw.

The V&A had secured, as “one of the leading examples of the bag as a symbol of power”, a grey Asprey item used by Baroness Thatcher, but it is not known whether it will go on display after the museum had to change the exhibition dates due to the pandemic.

– Bags: Inside Out, sponsored by Mulberry, opens on November 21. Tickets are on sale from £12.