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The Row Size Numbers Explained: Margaux 10, 12, 15 and Beyond

Most luxury houses reach for adjectives when they label their sizes. You get a Mini, a Small, a Medium and, if the house is feeling expansive, a Jumbo, and none of those words amounts to anything you can measure. Across a large part of its line The Row does something quietly different, and the moment you notice it the catalogue becomes far easier to read. The number attached to a model name is the bag’s width in inches. Margaux 10 comes in at ten inches across. Margaux 12 is twelve inches. That single fact is worth more in practice than any amount of styling copy, and it is the backbone of this explainer.

The system runs further than the flagship alone. It encompasses Margaux 10, 12, 15 and 17, India 10.00, 12.00 and 15.75, Agnes 12 and 15, Sofia 8.75 and 10, and Marlo 12 and 14. The decimals are the giveaway: nobody writes 15.75 unless the figure is intended literally. What follows is how far the rule goes, where it bends, what the number leaves out, and how to turn it into a decision when you are choosing between two sizes of the same bag.

The rule, stated simply

Read the number in the name, add the word inches, and that is the bag’s width. That is the ysl beige tote system in full, applied consistently enough across the numbered families that it is fair to treat as a rule rather than a coincidence. It is unusually honest labelling, because it closes the gap between what a size sounds like and what it measures. A Small at one house can be larger than a Medium at another, yet ten inches is ten inches anywhere. If you are comparing The Row bags with something you already own, the comparison becomes arithmetic rather than guesswork. It also explains why the brand can run four sizes of one silhouette without confusing anyone.

What the number misses

Width is one dimension of three, and the other two do not scale with it in any predictable way. Take the two Soft Margaux sizes that have official figures behind them, since the 10 measures 10 x 7 x 7.5 in and the 12 measures 12 x 9 x 7.5 in. Depth is identical at 7.5 inches, which means the larger bag is not a scaled copy of the smaller one. The height changes, rising by two inches, and so does the width, by the same amount. In practice that means stepping up a size gives you a taller mouth and more length rather than a deeper bag. Anyone assuming the 12 will swallow twice as much as the 10 will find the difference smaller than the numbers imply.

The handle drop is constant as well, at five inches on both Soft Margaux sizes, and that is another thing the model number never tells you. Five inches gives you a hand-carry or crook-of-the-elbow drop and not a shoulder one, which is why both sizes ship with a removable shoulder strap. Fittings inside differ too: a single card slot on the 10, while the 12 adds a second plus a zip pocket. Those details shape how a bag behaves day to day far more than an inch of width ever will. The number places the bag on a scale; the specification is what explains it.

The Margaux Shoulder 12, the place the rule bends

A single current model breaks the pattern, and it deserves to be said out loud rather than quietly. The Margaux Shoulder 12 carries a twelve in its name, but the brand gives its dimensions as 14.75 x 9 x 5 in. Because the width in the name and the width in the specification disagree, the number is doing the job of a family size rather than a literal external measurement on this one. It squares with the silhouette itself, a reworked shape with elongated tubular handles and narrowed gusseted side panels rather than a straightforward scaling of the tote. The lesson generalises: use the number as your starting point, then confirm against published dimensions before you commit. Where a listing carries no dimensions at all, read the number as a guide rather than a measurement.

What each width actually holds

Turning inches into daily use is the step most guides skip. A bag under ten inches wide is a phone, cardholder, keys and lipstick proposition, which is the territory of the Sofia 8.75 and of the small clutches. At ten inches you have the textbook small day bag, taking a compact wallet, a phone, sunglasses and a slim pouch without distortion. Twelve inches is where a bag begins absorbing a paperback, a small notebook, a folded scarf and a full-size wallet all at once. Fourteen to fifteen inches is a working width, where documents and a tablet stop being a squeeze. Seventeen inches, as on the Margaux 17, is a weekend and travel size rather than an everyday one.

• 8.75 to 10 in: evening, errands and anything where you want the bag to disappear.
• 12 in: the most versatile width in the line and the one most buyers settle on.
• 14 to 15 in: working days, commuting and the days you end up carrying other people’s things too.
• 17 in: travel and staying over, where soft structure is a feature and not a compromise.

Price tracks width, but material moves faster still

Price follows size, but not as sharply as you would expect. On observed 2026 market prices, the Soft Margaux 10 sits at $3,650 and the Soft Margaux 12 at $4,350, which puts two inches of width at about $700. Observed prices put Marlo 12 at $3,600 and $4,900 depending on the version and Marlo 14 at $5,300, a far bigger step for the same two inches. Bigger jumps come from material than from size: India 10.00 is $3,850 in leather against $5,370 in suede, while Agnes 15 runs $5,000 in leather, $5,800 in suede and $4,300 in a canvas blend. With Agnes 12 at $4,400, the leather Agnes 15 is only $600 more for three additional inches. If you are optimising spend, the material is the bigger financial decision and the width is the bigger practical one.

The bags that carry no number

A good deal of the line sits outside this system, and mixing the two conventions is where the confusion starts. The Park Tote family deals in words rather than inches, running Small, Medium, Large and XL alongside the N/S Park Tote and Park Tote Three. Small bags like the 90’s Bag, the Half Moon and the Bourse Clutch carry no size indication at all. With those, dimensions are all you have: the Bourse Clutch is listed at 10.2 x 6.5 x 2.3 in, and the Half Moon is given officially as 8 x 13.5 x 2.5 in, with other listings differing enough that the figure is safest treated as approximate. Archive models follow no rule either, and the Camden measures roughly 9 x 12.5 x 5.25 in despite having no number. Orientation shorthand is what the N/S and E/W prefixes provide, generally read as north-south for taller shapes and east-west for wider ones.

Turning inches into a choice

The practical value of a literal sizing system is that it can be checked before you buy. Take a bag you already own and like, measure it, and set its width against the number in the model name you are considering. Do the same for the widest thing you routinely carry, whether that is a laptop, a folder or a water bottle, and add an inch of tolerance for soft sides. Remember that these are unstructured shapes in most cases, so a bag will look smaller when empty and fuller in use than any flat measurement implies. If you are between sizes on a soft silhouette, the smaller one usually looks better and the larger one usually performs better. That trade-off, rather than the number itself, is the genuine choice in front of you when you buy row handbags in a numbered family.