Why are restaurants adding tiny seats for luxury handbags? Once a fine dining novelty, even casual eateries are adopting purse furniture – from US12,5000 Hermès’ Pippa stools to hand-woven baskets

Jul 12 , 2023

As more people carry fancy bags, restaurants are also adding purse stools as amenities to prevent their guests’ beloved properties from getting dirty on the floor. Photos: HBO; Stylnn

And Just Like That… and Emily in Paris have been riffing on the proliferation of purse furniture in restaurants – we’ve certainly struggled to find suitable spots to hang our bags

But not all purse rests are born equal, from baskets and racks to ornate baby seats – Restaurant Le Dalí in Le Meurice in Paris even offers guests foldable Hermès perches worth US$12,500 each

In the opening episode of season two of And Just Like That…, there’s a scene stealer – and it’s not a designer dress or a celebrity – it’s a purse stool.

Sarah Jessica Parker reprises her role in season two of And Just Like That... . Photo: HBO

“Oh, thank you, my bag was exhausted,” says Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie, setting her Chanel purse down on the little white stool that’s pulled up to the fancy restaurant table. The miniature seats also add comic relief in Emily in Paris – the fashionable Lily Collins, aka Emily, mistakenly sits on the little stand meant for her handbag at a Provence dining spot, revealing her naivety.

Fine diners will recognise the purse stool as a familiar sight in high-end dining rooms. They are the kind of amenity you see in three-Michelin-star French spots, where an army of waiters escort a woman to the bathroom and there are several courses of amuse-bouche – or starters – before a meal actually starts.

Now, however, those opulent emblems are taking up real estate in more casual dining rooms, from brasseries in Miami to steakhouses in Boston.

A purse stool is meant for well... your purse. Photo: Stylnn

Part of the reason is simple: more people have fancy bags and purses that they don’t want sullied by the ground. Luxury purses, new and vintage, are in high demand. Sales of fashion and leather goods at luxury group LVMH – home of Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior – rose 18 per cent in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022. The personal global luxury goods market grew by 22 per cent in 2022 from 2021, to €353 billion (US$384 billion), according to Bain & Co.

We don’t want our guests to be distracted by small, yet important, details like where to hang their bag

Stephen Starr, restraunteur

Besides the practical benefits of such stools, cultural superstitions from South America to Russia have added to the call for companion seats. In those countries, putting a bag on the floor is bad luck as it means you’ll lose money. There’s also the question of safety: a clutch that’s within your line of sight is safer than one on the back of your chair.

Beyond fine dining

How convenient that the purse stool trend coincides with superstitions in Russia and South America. Photo: Stylnn

These purse stools can take many forms, from a mini coat rack to a basket. Among the dining spots you might not have expected to find purse furniture is Rare Steakhouse at the Encore Boston Harbour resort in the Massachusetts capital. In addition to comfort food, the restaurant also provides little white upholstered chairs, which match the decor.

Even at fancy dining spots, the purse stool is proliferating more than it used to. Jean-Georges at The Connaught in London – sister hotel of The Berkeley – with a six-course menu that goes for £135 (US$171), stocks five purse stools to be shared among diners.

At the more recently opened Riviera Restaurant, located in yet another sister property the Maybourne Riviera in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, there are 20 tan purse stools. Bryan O’Sullivan Studio, which designed the restaurant, made them to match the decor.