The investment dresser: summer bags Your summer bag should be as hardworking as it is fun, says Lisa Armstrong. When I was seven my parents brought me a cherry-red raffia bag back from Mallorca. I wish I still had it - I'd try to get it copied and, since it wasn't the best quality, upgraded. At least it's in the memory bank. That's a sign of a great children's classic. The only other bag that matches its sheer joie de vivre is a leather-trimmed, celadon-green silk chinoiserie tote with silvery-white embroidered roses I saw in J&M Davidson 16 years ago. It wasn't built to last and I was a committed minimalist at the time. Obviously I bought it. IN PICTURES: Top five most-wanted designer handbags of summer 2012 I underestimated J&M's construction. I've since discovered they manufacture in the same Spanish factories as Loewe, and it shows. Apart from some wear at the corners and a few ink splotches on the canvas lining, it's in astonishingly good nick, and it's been used a lot. If it finally falls into holes, my dry cleaner and I will have to work out a way to salvage it with leather patches. Meantime, aside from not carrying pens - pencils are much better and you can rub out mistakes - the other lesson is a summer bag can, should, be more playful than the one you carry in winter. Even for minimalists, a printed accessory never does any harm: 2012's geometrics will add definition to summer's floaty soufflés or bleached layers. Pierre Hardy and Tila March are your people. Don't worry about it dating: Goyard's chevron-printed canvas totes and luggage have been around for almost five decades and are still a wow. Bottom line: the ideal summer bag should look impractically decorative while secretly working like a dog. Under no circumstances should it weigh more than you do. It's a tall order, but don't compromise. Proper raffia - as opposed to Hairy Mary macramé or common-or-garden straw - is not so easy to come by. Maybe that's why Prada is charging £700-plus for its raffia totes this season. Mind you, they're so evocative of all those lovely childhood summers - especially the ones that never really existed - they may just be worth it. Look after it and it will still give you pleasure in 16 years. Trash it and you'll have the memories. From left: Leather-trimmed canvas tote, £520; Pierre Hardy, from net-a-porter.com , Cotton shopper, £22.99; Mango mango.com , Straw tote, £165; Sensi Studio, matchesfashion.com