Establishment Of The Handbag As An Essential Fashion Accessory

Establishment of the Handbag as an Essential Fashion Accessory

“Purses, handbags, pocketbooks, all holding treasures of owners they are with.

Taken everywhere on shoulders or held by hands, transporting owner’s identification, pictures and personal items.

Lost without one, women search store shelves to find just the right one to fit their personalities.” (Shawiak, 2014)

What is about the woman’s purse? Modern days workbags are like jobs: they come with benefits, qualifications, and compensations. An everyday workbag has a task to fit certain personality to look the best on the go, and hold an amount of stuff a working woman would like to have access on the go. Beside documents, books/e-books, calendar, makeup bag, wallet with cash and

The bags and purses in the Victorian era evolved as women began to travel on their own, and as women began to carry their fashion accessory for mass-produced items such as cosmetics and cigarettes. Unlike clothes or shoes, or jewelry, handbags add nothing to a woman’s appeal – no man was ever won by a beautiful Gucci hanged over the back of a restaurant chair.

Author Kelley Styring says in the book entitled “In Your Purse,” – “…they [women] open this bag sparingly, revealing only what they must to get the job done. Like good burlesque, you see less than you think, and you are left with your imagination to fill in the pasties.” On the spot, to continue the thought, one of my old co-workers left her hearing aid in her handbag getting ready for a group gathering in the restaurant. So, my other friend was very quick to respond: “if you want to speak to Stella, you are going to have to talk to her

Therefore, the dependency on the stuff in the handbags, backpacks, and totes is high; especially, when we are long hours away from home at work, school, or participating in various events and activities.

In the seventeenth century young girls were taught embroidery as a necessary skill to make their own purse for public display of chic and originality.

By the eighteenth century, the women’s clothing silhouettes got sleeker and simpler, without any room for pockets, as women began to carry decorative reticules embellished with needlework and embroidery. The level of decoration of the women’s reticule was an indicator of her family’s wealth. The greatly covered beaded works were of such value that, in the early 1800s, the patterns were jealously guarded as family secrets passed down through generations.

Before the reticule appeared, purses were used. These were long bags made of netting that could be carried over the arm, hanging down on either side. Money was kept in each of the handing sides. There was a slit for putting money into the purse, and a slider to secure it. The weight of the contents kept the double-ended purse in place over the