Clothing Definitions — definitions of garments and clothing terms from Apparel Search
A bowler bag is a structured bag with a dome-shaped top, a flat base and two short handles, named for the bowler hat's dome. This page defines the shape, explains its relation to the bowling bag, and separates it from the doctor's bag and the satchel.
A bowler bag is a structured handbag with a rounded, dome-shaped top, a flat base on which it stands, and two short handles, closed by a zip that follows the curve of the dome. The name records a resemblance: the bag's smooth dome copies the crown of the bowler hat, the hard felt hat designed by the Bowler brothers' firm for Lock & Co. in 1849. The shape is practical as well as neat — the dome lets a stiff-sided bag open wide along its top while keeping its contents in a single, ordered compartment.
The bowler is closely related to the bowling bag, the domed twin-handled case made for a bowling ball, from which 1990s fashion borrowed the silhouette as a retro style; Prada's bowling bag of 2000 was the luxury peak of that borrowing. Bag glossaries use 'bowler' for the shape itself, in or out of the retro moment, and retailer taxonomies file the same bags under the descriptive word 'dome' — a dome bag and a bowler bag are one silhouette under two names, the second being a description of the first's defining feature rather than a separate style.
Three structured bags are easily confused. A doctor's bag opens on a hinged metal frame that springs apart at the top; a bowler has no frame and opens by a zip along its dome. A satchel is straight-sided, closed by a flap and traditionally carried by a long strap; a bowler is round-topped, zip-closed and carried by two short handles, though modern versions often add a detachable strap. Within the shape family the bowler's nearest neighbour is the barrel bag, which stretches the dome into a tube. The product side of the style is covered in the Fashion Influence guide to bowler bags.
A structured handbag whose top is a smooth dome, with a flat base and two short handles. It is named for the dome of a bowler hat.
No. 'Dome' is a shape description, not a separate category — retailers file dome bags under the bowler silhouette. A domed top on a structured, twin-handled bag is a bowler bag whatever the listing calls it.
A satchel is closed by a flap and traditionally carried on a long shoulder strap; a bowler bag closes with a zip over its dome and is carried by two short handles. The bodies differ too: a satchel is straight-sided, a bowler is rounded.