French Market Baskets

What is a French market basket?

It is the unstructured woven tote carried open at the top, usually with leather handles and often a little fringe or a tassel. Traditionally it was the bag you took to buy bread and flowers. Today it is shorthand for relaxed, sun-warmed style, and it looks expensive precisely because it looks unfussy.

Woven in Marrakech, trimmed in leather

Ours are woven from dried palm and doum fibre by Fatima's cooperative in Marrakech, a group of women who have been weaving together for twelve years. The leather handles and straps are cut and stitched separately in the workshop that makes our bags, then married to the basket by hand. No two are identical, because weave tension and fibre colour shift from maker to maker and from one season's harvest to the next.

What size market basket should I choose?

A small basket takes a phone, a wallet and sunglasses. A medium is the everyday size and holds a book and a water bottle. A large swallows a picnic, a beach towel or a market run with produce and flowers. Measurements are listed on every product page.

How to style one

White jeans and a striped top is the original formula and still the best. Beyond that, a market basket works with a floral midi, linen shorts and a kaftan, or a simple black dress with dark leather trim for the evening. Seven outfits to start from are in our guide on how to style a French market basket bag.