Our handbag love affair carries on

WITH sales increasing after a slump of a few years, luxurious handbags are back as a key fashion accessory, as evidenced at the recent Paris Fashion Week.

Handbags evolved from simple pouches, to carry coins and valuables, that hung from men and women’s belts — Judas Iscariot was described as a purse carrier.

Bags held herbs and spices, to drown out undesirable odours, and became a fashion accessory in the 19th century, when they were bejewelled and embroidered to display wealth. Reticules in France were small purses with wrist straps made of silk and velvet — in Britain known as ‘indispensables’ — to keep the silhouette free of bulk. Adapted in war-time and the industrial revolution into bulkier satchels, it was in the 1950s that handbags became the fashion essential they are today.