talkingfashion of today: History of Bags

Ok... this post will be one of those "in-progress" posting. There is so much to cover here and I will edit as I find the right combination of time and inspiration... Meanwhile I don't want to hold back on what I got.. Let's get started!

Louis Aragon said: "She had no more money, and a terrible desire for a handbag" Ha! That sums up a lot of women out there. What an addiction we have for bags!

Personally I don't really carry them for daily errands (I know I act like a boy with a wallet in my back jean pocket many times), but... I love collecting them... All kinds and styles!

Handbags have been related to social status from the get-go back in the late nineteenth century. The ladies who gained more social mobility, spent more time on the city streets without male escorts which resulted on handbags becoming more substantial.

Some interesting points I found:

• Pouches were the precursor of the bag and hung from a girdle at the waist. The size of the purse indicated wealth. A tiny purse suggested others were employed to do more onerous carrying.
• Reticules were used to carry the few objects a wealthy woman needed to function outside the home: cartes de visite, a fan for flirting, cosmetics, and perfume.
• The 20s flapper was a new modern woman, a fashion consumer par excellence, who was willing to buy an array of handbags in bright modernist designs and new materials.
• The 50s chic and understated elegance changed the look of handbags. Fashionable women craved discreet styles in luxurious crocodile, kid, or snakeskin.
• Coco Chanel's black quilted-leather bag with gilt-chain handle in 1955 and Gucci's bamboo-handled bag in 1957 started the "griff" with celebrity endorsement times.
• Grace Kelly was one of the first stars to have a bag named after her: The Hermès Kelly of 1956.
• Whimsical bags already existed back in 1825. Look this "ice dessert in a dish" bag