The History Of Purses and Handbags
The handbag is an accessory that many women use on a daily basis. At the same time practical and perfect to accessorize an outfit. It is an object which existed since Antiquity, and it has survived throughout the ages and finally found itself in our closets! this the story of the handbag:
From Antiquity to the Middle Ages, practical accessories
In antiquity, the first handbags were used by slaves, who collected their master’s belongings in more or less large purses made of goats’ hair. what was chic at that time is to travel empty handed. The handbag until the Middle Ages had a purely practical use only. At that time, the travelers will carry their food in it, and the workers will store their tools, the ecclesiastics store the coins destined for the needy in a bag which one will call the chaplain (also used by the rich, for the same usage) … basically, each activity has its own purse.
These little practical items will be worn by both women and men. Because at that time the clothes are not yet equipped with pockets. The bags are attached to the waist or belt, and contain all kinds of things!
Among the richest, an accessory resembling our current wallet and called the purse was very fashionable. It was often equipped with a lock because it was mainly used to carry money or jewelry.
In short, until the eighteenth century, the ancestors of handbags were in no way fashion accessories, they had only a well-defined practical aspect. But before arriving at his stage of fashion accessory, they have somewhat disappeared from circulation …
During the Renaissance, the handbag almost disappears
From the sixteenth century, when the period of the Renaissance takes over all of Europe, the various bags are gradually disappearing – victims of fashion, in the true sense of the word.
Because the clothes of the time, with bulging fabrics and imposing shapes, allow adding some kinds of pockets below the petticoats. Thus, under the ladies’ dresses and the gentlemen’s breeches, were always some kind of open-top canvas bags, accessible from the outside by slits, and were being attached to the waist.
This ancestor of our current pockets allows the elegant to get rid of bags, which tarnished the balance of the silhouette.
Necessary items were carried by hands, while the rest were arranged under the skirts. The richest and the members of the court, of course, have servants to carry the stuff they need.
It returns to fashion in the late eighteenth century
It is only in the eighteenth century that we will begin to take an interest in old purses and bags. In addition to the small pockets worn under the clothes, in high society, we will begin to wear chatelaines.
The chatelaines are accessories in silver or gold, which are attached to the waist, and on which the pendants are arranged, in order to hang items that you want: useful objects such as decoration pure and simple. This is was the first step in the fashion that is handbags. The chatelaines become one of the handbag ancestors!
The first handbags as we know them, will (re) make their appearance during the nineteenth century, little by little. In the 1800s, during the First Empire, fashion was the ancient-inspired dresses. the dresses become tightened, simplified and shortened, therefore, it was impossible for the ladies to continue to put pockets under their skirts, and to wear chatelaines to their belt.
The elegant women then carried handbags matching their outfit, in which they put what they need, whether at home (a sewing kit, for example), or outside (a purse, a fan, binoculars for opera …). These pouches are often round, sometimes square, and decorated with stones. They were like jewels, and, like them, they show to which social rank one belongs!
Men, in all this, keep their trousers pockets and abandon the man bags from year to year to no longer wear them at all.
At the end of the 19th century, and until today, it becomes an indispensable feminine accessory
Little by little, women can no longer do without the handbag, which becomes an indispensable accessory, as pretty as dresses and shoes. They are small, and always perfectly matched to the outfit, even cut in the same fabric.
More and more, the bourgeoisie develops a keen interest in travel, whether by train or boat. It is, therefore, necessary to produce accessories to transport the users’ belongings. The height of chic is to buy personalized and luxurious luggage, to replace the simple suitcases without design.
Moreover, Louis Vuitton will make a fortune by becoming the favorite brand of Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III. Little by little, the handbags are expanding, taking inspiration from this luxury luggage. They are designed to hold more than a fan and a pocket mirror: you take with you something to take care of during the trip.
The handbag then knew many fluctuations during the century, depending on fashion and economy.
In the 1920s, it was small, to contain only a lipstick and a pack of cigarette: perfect for dancing all night to the music frenzied era.
During the 1930s, the minaudière (clutch) is in the spotlight: a small rigid bag, it is like a jewel in which we put little things. Very elegant, it is mainly reserved for outings.
During the 1940s, World War II raged. The women are abandoning their traditional leather handbag, worn daily for several years now, to send them to the military, where they will be transformed to reinforce the uniforms of the soldiers. The fabric will be the master material of lady’s bags until the 1950s when leather will return to the forefront.
During this second part of the twentieth century, the handbag will remain preferred by most women, whether for its practical or aesthetic side.
Whatever the fashion, it continues to sublimate many outfits, and whether we like our bag big, small, slung or worn over the shoulder or held by hand, the least we can say is that it has survived throughout the ages!
