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Ten Things 2006: Pr...The New York Times Style Magazine (Woman’s Fashion Spring 2006)
To the practical, rational person, the answer to the posed question is clearly, "None." One bag is plenty, containing more than enough room to carry the bare everyday essentials. After all, a woman usually carries only one handbag at a time so owning more than one functional purse simultaneously is clearly excessive. One should use the bag until it is rendered worthless, stained and tearing apart at the seams. Only then should one buy a new model.
However, to the true fashionista, the solution is, "Why, all of them, of course!" One perfect handbag is never enough. No one color bag will complement every outfit, a "slouchy" bag cannot be paired with sweats, and carrying a sequined clutch during the day is obviously a major fashion faux pas. Asking a woman to settle on buying only one handbag at a time is analogous to asking a man to own only one technological "toy" at a time. This clearly will not occur.
Ringing up at approximately $20,000, the new Louis Vuitton handbag costs more than the average car (Fig. 1). Even a more “moderately” priced designer purse can match the cost of an entire week’s vacation in Florida. The least expensive handbags in the Neiman Marcus catalog run upwards of $1,000 a piece. At such outlandish prices, it may seem unlikely that designer companies sell any bags at all. However, the fashion industry is clearly in no danger of going bankrupt.
Is it What’s on the Inside That Counts?
One such reason for this apparent paradox is that a bag is what makes a woman herself. In other words, as summed up by Elizabeth Wurtzel, author of Prozac Nation, “The only way I know I exist is if I have my stuff with me” (The New York Times Style Magazine 156). Just as a child may be unable to sleep without that favorite stuffed animal, a woman is also rendered helpless without her purse, naked against the cold chill of reality. Without a bag, where is the woman to keep her cosmetics for touch-ups during the day, her business cards for work, her coupons for the grocery store, and her pen and paper for that brilliant, midday idea? The open top of the handbag affords the opportunity for transport. Although an article in The New York Times recently proposed that the handbag has become the “epicenter of the household,” it seems to be much more than just the home’s focal point. The bag is a way for the woman to bring home with her, to neatly pack up her life into one portable bag and carry it about her daily tasks. The bag symbolizes life support, ensuring that the vital activities of the day run smoothly by simultaneously acting as a briefcase, cosmetics bag, and even, at times, a trash receptacle (Fig. 2, a clever Marc by Marc Jacobs bag).
(Fig. 2)
http://www.thebaglady.tv/2005/04/marc_by_marc_ja.html
By representing the mobilization of everyday life, “bags also serve as the portable manifestation of a woman’s sense of self, a detailed and remarkably revealing map of her interior, an omnium-gatherum of myriad aspects of her life – the crucial Filofaxed information as well as the frivolous, lipsticky stuff.” (The New York Times Style Magazine 154). In other words, a handbag is equivalent to the fingerprint of a female; no two women will have the same handbag collection, let alone the same items in the same purse. Therefore, even a mass-produced handbag can be seen as a measure of individuality and an expression of independence. The contents of the bag tell the story of a woman, tell the personality of the woman, and tell what is important to that woman. For example, a bag cluttered with memos and receipts could signify a hectic, working life while a bag holding a list of the school’s emergency numbers and various snack foods could signify an equally hectic motherhood.
Modern handbags are also more conducive to the storage and transport of technological items. While these objects have become more streamlined and simplistic in their designs, the handbag seems to have diverged on an opposing evolutionary path. Consider the bags with extensive displays of hardware (Fig. 3). Most bags now integrate technology into their very fabrics, containing tiny cell phone pockets and even smaller specialized compartments for iPods and the minuscule white ear buds. In 2005, the high quality Japanese design company, Kawa Soza, even devised a white leather handbag which contains built-in speakers along with the pocket for the iPod. This pocket is covered in clear vinyl so that music can be changed without removing the technological device from the larger handbag (Fig. 4).
(Fig. 3)
http://www.purseblog.com/brands/louis-vuitton/louis-vuitton-spring-2006-bags/
(Fig. 4)
http://www.akibalive.com/archives/000609.html
Despite the fact that the inside of a bag serves as a woman’s ID, for more than the fact that it probably stores her driver’s license, the outer style of the bag holds a great significance as well. Handbags are not sold pre-packed with necessities. Rather, it is the appearance of a purse which first draws in the consumer and causes the bag to be swept off the shelf as quickly as it can be manufactured. In a world where white and blue is not the same as blue and white, the varieties of handbags are endless. Bright colors, muted patterns, buckles, rhinestones, screen prints, zippered pockets, buttoned pockets, snapped pockets, shoulder strap, no strap, rectangular, cylindrical, triangular -- the list grows on and on. Anna Johnson, author of Handbags: The Power of the Purse explains, “Clothing is generic these days…but handbags have become more eccentric” (The New York Times).
Several fashion companies have even devised manufacturing processes which afford the consumer greater independence in the outer appearance of her bag. One such company is Timbuk2. Although it may not be considered a true designer institute, Timbuk2 has revolutionized the face of fashion. Through a website based on similar principles to those behind the BMW Mini site, the shopper can create a personalized bag, from the color to the accessories to even the material (Fig. 5).
(Fig.5)
http://www.timbuk2.com/
However, the TimBuk2 bag will not satisfy many. Instead, individualism must be brought to the surface of the bag through wealth. The more expensive the bag, the more unique it will look. After all, there are only a limited number of the best handbags made; only small subset of the fashionista population can own that special handbag, the one carried by that celebrity at that awards show in that season. As was true of the ancient Egyptian civilizations where huge, ornate pyramids represented the destruction of excessive wealth, so too does an extravagant handbag symbolize a way to waste, and flaunt, financial success. Of course, to a great extent, the high price a woman pays for a purse does not immediately connote high fashion, but rather high fashion is symbolized by the way in which the woman carries a bag.
Nevertheless, there is a subtle art to using a particular handbag. It is not as simple as lightly gripping a clutch in one’s hand for an evening out and casually slinging a messenger bag across one’s chest for a day of work. Instead, Anna Johnson outlines some simple rules (The New York Times):
1. “If a bag is too spangly, it could make you look tired" (Fig. 6).
(Fig. 6)
http://www.adini.com/Other/BB66.gif
2. “Buckles made a woman look very decisive" (Fig. 7)
3. For a big, squishy bag, “you need a heel, so you don’t look like you’re collapsing into the earth like a caramelized onion” (Fig. 8)
"Brighton Net’s iPod Shoulder Bag and Purse with Built-in Speakers." Akibalive. 4 May 2005. 14 March 2006. <http://www.akibalive.com/archives/000609.html>
Merkin, Daphne. "Sometimes a Bag is Not Just a Bag." The New York Times Style Magazine: Woman’s Fashion. Spring 2006.
Patner, Josh. "The High Price of Fashion. Why should a dress cost more than a car?" Spring Fashion New York Magazine. 13 Feb 2006.
Slatalla, Michelle. "Fuller Lives Need Bigger Bags." The New York Times. March 2006.
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