Archive for March, 2010
The Bag
Women did not always carry bags; for most of history they did not need to. They would carry all their indispensables in dress pockets. After the French and American revolutions, the antiroyalist fervor found a reflection in a simpler fashion. The full skirts were replaced by slim muslin gowns and women began to carry small drawstring bags. As women became more independent and their obligations increased, so did their bags’ size. Their new social roles led to diversified styles for different circumstances – a canvas tote for summer, a leather handbag for work, a satin envelope for evening. These are a few of these styles:
Backpack
Designed for heavy use, the backpack has two straps so the weight can be distributed to both shoulders. The modern version of the rugged soldiers’ mess packs, the backpack comes in different styles and is made of diverse materials: nylon and canvas backpacks are meant for greater load, while leather ones are more urban and elegant. Your height should determine your choice of backpack. If you are over 5′6″, look for packs that are at least I0 inches in length. If you are shorter than 5′4″, however, your pack should not be more than 15 inches in length or it will cover your back and send you tolling the bells of Notre Dame.
Duffel bag
The original soldier’s duffel bag was a cylindrical canvas bag with a drawstring top that folded over and locked into a clamp. It was sturdy, light, and roomy.
The duffel is an oversized sport sac used as gym bag. It’s too big to serve as a purse, but is a great piece of casual luggage.
Envelope bag
Until the 1920s, handbags were tiny drawstring sacks that could carry little more than a lace hankie or a tiny vial of cologne. Women’s new social roles and increased responsibilities imposed the need for a new type of bag. The flat hard envelope-shaped bag tucked smartly under the arm would hold the modern basics in the 1930s-a compact, a cigarette case, and a lighter.
Rather small by current standards, the envelope bag is an elegant accent to an evening outfit. Larger envelopes work best with daytime clothes, while smaller ones are perfect for dressier clothes.
Flight bag
In the early days of air travel a flight was a special occasion. To commemorate the event, passengers dressed up and airlines would give away canvas bags with side pockets, especially designed for the long flight.
Complimentary flight bags have disappeared, but the style can still be found in luggage departments. This is a heavy-use bag so look for solid construction and sturdy closures, and check out the zippers and seams before buying.
Kelly bag
Introduced by Hermes in the late 1930s, the Kelly bag was named after the actress Grace Kelly who was often photographed carrying one. The ultimate status bag, the Kelly is an adaptation of a much larger piece of luggage made by Hermes for the European royals. At first Hermes provided riding equipment to the most famous stables of France, czarist Russia, and England, but with the end horse-drawn transportation in the late 1920s, Hermes branched out to handbags and luggage that incorporated equestrian motifs.
Authentic Kelly bags are an expensive limited edition and there is a list of customers waiting to pay thousands of dollars for the privilege of owning one.
Minaudiè
The exquisite hard-sided evening bag was created in 1930 by Van Cleef and Arpels when Charles Arpels noticed that one of his clients was using a metal Lucky Strike cigarette box as a purse. He adapted the look and named it after the wife of his partner, Estelle Van Cleef, who was minaudiere (charming). At first minaudieres were made of precious metals and jewels, but the dainty bag did not remain exclusive for long: it was selling all over America within a decade.
Satchel bag
The satchel may look like a doctor’s bag, but it is actually a smaller version of the popular 19th-century Gladstone luggage bag, named after the four-term British Prime Minister, William Evert Gladstone. Perfect for travel, the flat-bottomed bag could hold everything one needed to explore the world.
The satchel’s tailored, conservative style works beautifully with pants, suits, sweaters, and jackets. The rounded sides tend to add too much bulk to dressier suits and silky dresses.
You will find satchels in solid leathers, colorful quilted prints, and sporty canvas. They are held either by small handles or longer straps that hang from the shoulders.
Shoulder bag
A shoulder bag is any medium-sized bag with a long strap. It was designed for women in the military in the early days of World War II. When buying a new shoulder bag, look for sizes that complement your own. If you are shorter than 5′3″, the bag should not be 1 ½ times larger than your head. Taller women can handle bags that are proportionally larger. Straps that are too long can be shortened by a shoemaker. Short straps can be replaced by a chain.
Tote bag
The tote bag is simple big sack with two handle-sized straps, perfect for carrying all that, which does not fit into a handbag. Popularized in the 1960s, today tote bags come in all different styles and materials.
Casual canvas, straw, and cotton totes are nice beach bags and airplane carry-ons. Suede, vinyl, and coated linen totes are excellent for work.
If you are petite, always check the hanging length of a tote. You don’t want to drag it on the ground.
With the amount of money that women spend every year on either a purse or a handbag special care needs to be given to them to maintain and increase their life and shape.
Did you know that there are ways of taking care of your purses or handbags with simple things you have around the house. Here I will give you inexpensive ways to take care of your handbags by cleaning and storing properly to expand the life of your leather and cloth purse? With these helpful hints you can keep them looking new and fresh for years. We all know about the great products on the market to help us preserve and clean our leather handbags, but in a pinch these little hints are great.
When you change your purse stuff it with tissue paper to help keep its shape. If you are putting away your winter handbags for the spring simply stuff them with your winter gloves and folded scarves. This way you won’t need to search or find a place to store these garments as everything will be together for next winter. Also store them in a breathable bag. (Never use plastic bags to store your leather purse or handbags as leather needs to breath and mold and mildew love to form and grow on things where the air can’t reach thus ruining your handbags). When you need to shine your leather purse some people use the inside of a banana peel; “It really works”. Start by lightly rubbing your purse with the inside of a banana peel to clean then just gently buff with a soft cloth. For a stain on your black or brown purse get the right color of marker to match the color of your article then rub in a few drops of olive oil. This method is great on leather. Has your leather become hard and brittle? Try using olive oil to soften it by rubbing some into the leather with a soft dry clean cloth then tissue off the excess surplus.
Now ladies even our cloth purses need maintenance. We need to wipe them down inside and out on a regular basis as bacteria and mold will find their way onto, and into them. This mold will then get on everything you have inside your handbag. These fabric purses should be stored away in a plastic bag (plastic bags are to be used only for fabric handbags to prevent moths from eating the material.) They too need to be stuffed with tissue paper to help keep their shape.
Designer inspired purses are a popular alternative to authentic designer purses today. Authentic purses can run approximately anywhere from two hundred dollars to three thousand dollars. This can get pretty expensive for women especially if they want to have different colors and styles of purses for different occasions, such as work, leisure, or just every day. As one can see, this can add up to big bucks pretty fast.
So, what’s the advantage to owning a replica? There are many reasons, some are, they look very similar to authentic, they are safer, they are much more affordable. Most designer inspired purses will run anywhere from $50 to $two hundred dollars. At these prices one can own (in some cases) ten! designer inspired purses for nearly the price of only one authentic designer purse. With that being said, the authentic purses are made a little better and will most likely last a little longer, but not ten times as long, which is what the price difference suggests. And, most designer inspired purses are still made with genuine leather, canvas, brass or gold-plated hardware, tags, magnetic snaps and other features, so they are also pretty durable.
Another advantage of owning a designer inspired purse is that if a woman is out in public at a large gathering such as a concert, football game, or the mall, she could be targeted for crime. Some criminals will profile their potential victims, seeing such items like Coach, D&G, lv, Prada, Gucci, Versace, or Chanel will make her a perfect target. So if anything does happen, unfortunately the contents inside may be lost,hopefully there is not too much cash, credit cards can always be replaced, and you won’t lose a thousand dollar or more purse.
Today the retail market is flooded with clothes and an increasing number of accessories in different styles and fashion. Although you may like one handbag, chances are if you are anything like me, you would have no clue of the type that the particular handbag belongs to. So the next time if your daughter compliments you, “Mom that’s a great tote!”, don’t look around – rather look at your purse and acknowledge her compliments. Although handbags could be of different sizes, shapes and styles, there are some most popular categories in handbags.
o Holding your handbag by handles gives you a handheld handbag. The straps are small so that you can only carry them by your hands. These are not very big and you cannot dump anything and everything in it. These are pretty much in style now-a-days and are easy to carry while you are out shopping or in a casual get-together.
o Shoulder bags as the name suggests have shoulder straps and are meant to be worn over the shoulder. These have large spaces and you can carry your make-up kit, books and wallet easily in a shoulder bag. These days shoulder bags come with nice metallic and leather straps that enhance the look and feel of these bags.
o The back pack used for back packing is a popular bag across all ages and across all centuries. The reason is simple – it always serves the purpose. Although most popular among the students, back packs are largely used by all whenever they are out their negotiating the trails or going for a picnic. The more compartmentalized a back pack is more efficient it is. Back packs these days come in lovely colors with great patterns to choose from. Back packs from Swiss are quite famous and are priced around 100 USD.
o A clutch is a handheld handbag without the straps. So you can just carry it in your palm or hold it in your hand but you cannot hang it. Clutch bags are pretty common in evening parties and dinners. Small and petite clutch bags generally have rich craftsmanship with beads and sequins. It will have enough space for your bare necessities. Most ladies have two to three clutch bags matching their evening wears.
o Finally comes the all-purpose, casual, tote bag. Extremely practical, you can wear those across your shoulder and on your bag. These have compartments to demarcate your belongings! You will also have enough space to dump your books or your dancing shoes! These come in vibrant colors and patterns to uplift your mood.
Choosing a handbag that best suits your style and your clothes is the ideal way to go when it comes to shopping for handbags. First pick up the type that best suits your present needs and then go for the color, shape and pattern. It’s not that difficult, you see! And if you do have the mullah, then why shy away? Buy one from each type and you are covered for all occasions and all seasons!