In recent years, bag-status has become as big a concern as which car you drive or which neighbourhood you live in. There has been – largely because of some heavy-duty marketing by some of the major luxury brands – a push to move designer labels into the public conscience that has precipitated the public move into designer price range. Aspirational shopping now means most fashion lovers and well-dressed professionals will have at least one designer bag in their wardrobe.

But the popularity of designer bags has also led to a keen trade in fakes and ‘seconds’ – an ethical grey area where it’s possible to purchase a reasonably authentic Louis Vuitton for the relatively bargain price of £500 (give or take). You can even convince yourself that you’re buying the real thing - perhaps a factory second or surplus.

What’s strange is that these derivative products (frequently made by low paid workers in poor conditions) are frequently preferred over the real brand’s diffusion or premium label. It’s as if some consumers believe that if they can’t have the real thing they’d rather pretend they can than go for second best.

Love Moschino has been virtually unique in battling and solving this problem with the kind of products and bags it produces. This is partly because the ‘mother’ label is so left field (thanks to founder Franco Moschino’s original vision) that even its premium products feel and look like something special.

Fall/Winter 2021 featured the kind of clothes where you didn’t even need to ask if Jeremy Scott was making fun of the industry. Models dressed in (rather exquisite) potato sacks or looking as if their dresses (like their faces and bodies) had been painted on.

Common objects as art and artifice, and the superficial nature of appearance were all underlying themes. How about a giraffe’s neck and head hat or – right on the money – a zebra pattern coat. The overall look seemed to be classic Hollywood films as absurd myth. There were some lovely items in the mix too, but for the most part, unless you’re Lady Gaga or walking around Harajuku in Tokyo, this is not the sort of thing you’d spend thousands of pounds to go to work in.

Of course fashion is moving away from strict definitions of appropriateness. But with Moschino your best bet has frequently been to shop its premium or diffusion lines. The irreverence remains intact down the price ladder - A H&M collaboration for spring 2018 likewise shows a more obvious colour theme and an easier take on athleisure. Moschino Cheap and Chic was its tongue-in-cheek younger-focused brand until 2014 and you’ll see remnants of the same vibe in the Love Moschino line) but you’ll actually find clothes that don’t demand a totally ‘up-yours’ attitude to wear.

So if a pair of skinny trousers or a laissez fair Parisian Isabel Marant look is as a far left as you want to go on your day off, look no further. Love Moschino shoulder bags follow that trend for youthful, leisure-focused design and – perhaps again ironically – the kind of style that will win nods of admiration and approval but that won’t necessarily take a designer dress to make it rock.

Opt for a designer Moschino bag in 2021 and you’re basically opting for a condensed reanimation of Las Vegas-era Elvis Presley, or you’re attempting to out-Vegas the city of lights itself with neon inspired bags of many colours. These are the sort of accessories that only a total fashion renegade can pull off.

If that’s not you, but you still adore Moschino and hat it stands for, then Love Moschino bags are just as fun and will save you the embarrassment of bumping into someone you know from the office who thinks you’re normal.

All Moschino bags can be purchased with buy now, pay later options with Moschino Klarna and Moschino Clearpay enabling you to spread the cost in monthly, interest-free instalments