1. Handbags
“We're in the business of selling pleasure. We don't sell handbags or haute couture. We sell dreams.” Alain Wertheimer, chairman of Chanel fashion house.
I hope all my American readers had a Happy Thanksgiving.
Before I begin, I would like to thank my non-UK readers for tolerating my UK spellings over the past year. However, there is also the tricky subject of words that have different meanings depending on which side of the pond1 you live on.
For example, ‘pants’ in the USA are called trousers in the UK, where pants are underwear. How many of my fellow UK readers, when first reading an American book, thought that American’s ran around in a state of undress?
The same issue applies to ‘purse’. In the UK a purse is a small container for money, notes and credit cards; it is kept inside your handbag (which is called a purse in the USA). All clear?
There has always been a need for bags to carry belongings; but it wasn’t until the late 19th century that ‘handbags’ evolved and were considered fashion accessories. However, I suspect they have been viewed as fashion items for far longer.
Nowadays it is usually only women who carry handbags. I have always envied men and their pockets. Women also used to have pockets, until Georgian slim fitting dresses ruined the ‘look’. It seems much easier to stuff things in pockets than to carry around a handbag. However, handbags hold much more than a pocket, and can also be a status symbol. Your handbag says a lot about you.
Handbags can be ridiculously expensive. The Guinness World Record holder for the most expensive handbag is the '1001 Nights Diamond Purse' made by the Mouawad company (USA)2. It costs nearly $4 million, but since most of the cost is due to the diamonds it is covered with, I feel like it’s cheating a little.
However, any handbag from a fashionable brand seems to command a high price, and manufacturers are eager to maintain exclusivity. The Hermes Birkin bag was designed for the actress Jane Birkin, after she complained she could not find a practical handbag to fit all her carry-on belongings while flying.
This ‘practical’ Birkin handbag costs £139,000 ($180,286), and has a waiting list! You can opt for an ‘ordinary’ Birkin handbag for around £20,000 ($25940), which still doesn’t seem very practical to me.
I love handbags; and have a few treasured ones that are still packed away, waiting for our house move. I don’t want to part with them, but they’re not practical for my current lifestyle. This made me reflect on my handbag evolution, and how handbags can illustrate a part of our life story.
I was fortunate to be raised by my grandparents. My grandmother always wanted the best for me. Sadly, this often meant that I was out of step with the other kids. My school fellows carried their books in battered, cheap satchels. I carried this.
My schoolbag was a very expensive, large and heavy briefcase, exactly like this one. I still remember being 13 years old, walking into school carrying my briefcase, and wanting to hide with embarrassment. Interestingly, this experience did not dampen my love of bags and handbags.
Have you ever thought of telling some of your memoirs through the story of your handbags?
1980s. When I was in my twenties in London, I used to carry huge handbags. This was before mobile phones, so my handbag was filled with a large amount of paraphernalia, including heavy books. At that time, I recall that backpacks were only used for hiking or travelling.
1990s. I was living in the USA and had a good salary and a car, so I didn’t have to carry my bag far, so it could be less practical. I indulged in my love of fine handbags, with a particularly fondness for Coach bags.3 The styles I adored are now considered vintage! Although I still have a couple of Coach bags, I rarely use them.
2000s. I travelled extensively for work throughout this decade. But in 2008, when I became a mother, I found I needed to carry a lot of kid stuff. Backpacks had become popular and replaced my handbags. I have a theory that mothers tend to keep their children in buggies / strollers for longer than necessary because they use them to carry all the small child paraphernalia!
Nowadays. I like cross body bags because they are more comfortable to carry, and less easy to steal. Since I now have a smart phone I have very little else in my handbag besides house keys4. However, since moving to Scotland I have had to replace my handbag with a waterproof one!
What tales can you tell about your handbag?
Read more
V&A museum, ‘About the Bags: Inside Out exhibition’. The exhibition is over but this is an interesting article.
The North Atlantic Ocean is often referred to as the ‘pond’.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, the '1001 Nights Diamond Purse' was the most expensive handbag in 2010.
I am not paid to provide any links to retailers, and have no association with any of them. Not even the Mouawad company!
Of course I could invest in smart house technology, and not have to carry keys. But there can be problems - see this funny video.
In the 80s I was in college in downtown Chicago. I had a universal crush on bike messengers, who were everywhere then. So I bought a bright red nylon Crate & Barrel crossbody duffel bag because I could wear it messenger style. I've never stopped wearing crossbody bags. Went through a long Timbuk2 phase in the 2000s through maybe last year.
Funny. The video is why I don't have a dumb "smart house."