Best Leather Tote Bags: The Row Totes, Clutches and Mules

A leather tote from The Row looks almost deliberately unfinished, which is the entire point. The Marlo tote keeps its shape through structure alone, no logo or hardware doing the work that the leather itself should do. The brand's 90s Bag takes that same idea into a smaller, slouchier shape, soft enough to fold under an arm. A burgundy Astra tote shows the same silhouette can hold color without losing the plain, architectural feel. The Row's Peggy clutch shrinks the idea down further, proof the same restraint reads just as clearly in a bag built for one evening.

Once a few totes establish the shape, the same restraint carries over into smaller bags and shoes. The Row's Marlo 14 in textured leather repeats its own tote shape with a rougher finish, less polished than the smooth version. Veronica Beard's Dash clutch takes a similar pebbled leather into a belted, structured shape that reads more evening than daytime. Valentino Garavani's croc-embossed VLogo mules are the outlier, adding a logo and a texture the rest of this group deliberately avoids. Put next to each other, the mules make clear how much of the Row look depends on leaving hardware off entirely.

This category only works because one brand decided restraint could be its own kind of luxury signal. The Row's totes and clutches barely change from season to season, which is exactly why they have become shorthand for a certain kind of dressing. Texture is what separates one bag from the next here, smooth leather against something rougher or a slouchier fold against a structured one. The Valentino mules make an interesting contrast, since a visible logo and crocodile texture read as almost showy next to everything around them. A clutch like Veronica Beard's belted style proves the shape can be borrowed without buying into the exact same brand. If you take one thing away, the plainer the leather and the fewer the details, the longer the bag or shoe tends to stay in rotation.