2. Handbags
"To be born, or at any rate bred, in a hand-bag, whether it had handles or not, seems to me to display a contempt for the ordinary decencies of family life." The Importance of Being Earnest.
A handbag is an accessory that most women carry everyday, and it is unique because it has both a public and a private function. A handbag can reveal a lot about it’s owner. Either as a fashion statement, or as an indicator of their perceived worth based on the brand of their handbag.
But the inside of a handbag is considered private; it is almost taboo to look inside a handbag without the owners permission. There were numerous articles over the years, speculating about what Queen Elizabeth II carried in her handbag. Although nobody guessed she carried a marmalade sandwich.
I’m sure we all know someone who, like Mary Poppins, seems to have an endless supply of items in their handbag, and can always produce exactly what is needed for any situation. Though to be fair, Mary had a carpet bag, which is more like a small suitcase.
In 2016 Russian photographer Sergei Stroitelev asked women in St Petersburg if he could take photographs of the contents of their bags. He said,
“driven purely by curiosity, I decided to ask a bunch of women I know, as well as a few strangers I bumped to on the street, to let me photograph the contents of their bags”.
Sergei arranged the contents of the handbags on a black sheet (in some cases the women insisted on arranging the contents themselves) and took a photograph. The photographs have a caption with the handbag owners name, age and profession, along with their photo. I was disappointed that he did not include a photo of the handbag itself. Even though it was only eight years ago, it is interesting to see how times change - none of the handbags contained a mobile phone.
My favourite is this one. I love it how Lubov casually carries a saw in her handbag - without a safety cover!
I believe that Natalia would be able to decrease her medication intake if she stopped smoking. It’s so easy to be judgemental about what people keep in their handbag! Maybe that’s why they are considered private spaces - which is why I never understood the trend of clear plastic handbags.
Hidden in my phone are many ‘contents’ that would have been separate items twenty years ago - such as a book, diary, music etc., creating an additional level of privacy. In London, I would not have carried a purse, since you can pay for everything by card; I would have paid with my phone app. However, I sometimes need cash in Scotland.
The contents of our handbags are private and rarely seen. Yet they reveal a lot about us - the way we live and what is important to us. It is another way of telling our stories.
What do you carry in your handbag? Or, what apps do you have on your phone?
The quote is from The Importance of Being Earnest, a play by Oscar Wilde.
Very cool--I'm always nosy about such things that are plebian (mostly) and mostly hidden. I understand that Hillary Clinton always carried hot sauce in her purse but people often disbelieved that for whatever bias that would come from.
I just switched the contents from my very worn out handbag into a new-to-me (and very new looking) purse from a thrift store. So let's see if I can remember: earplugs (2 sets because one was hidden in the torn lining), a small packet of tissues, my cell phone, dry mouth spray, credit and other cards in a small Q-tip travel case, a pen, tiny unscented spray hand sanitizer, a nail file, flash drive, but no hot sauce and soon I'll add earrings!
I love those "what's in my bag" articles! I also enjoy looking at what the person. front of me at the grocery store is buying.
I always have an extra pair of contact lenses, Aesop spray hand disinfectant, a charger cable and a phone battery. I try to always have a few euro coins because I love lighting candles in churches. There is a pair of sparkly earrings and a perfume sample, just in case I end up somewhere fancier than intended when I left the house.