History of Handbags - From the 14th Century to Today's Bag Designers
Posted: Thursday, December 04, 2003
by Henrietta Timmons
Henrietta's Handbags
Have you ever wondered about the origin of handbags and purses? Handbags have been essential to daily life ever since people have had something precious to carry around with them and only the items have changed over time. The very first mention in written literature comes from the 14th century, even though Egyptian hieroglyphs show pouches carried around the waist. Bags were attached to what were called "girdles" which were fastened to the waist. Embroidery and jewels adorned these articles and were used to show status - the richer the person, the more elaborate the bag.
Neo-classical clothing became popular in the 18th century with a reduction in the amount of underclothing worn by women. Wearing a purse would ruin the look of this clothing so fasionable ladies started carrying their handbags which were called reticules. Women had a different bag for every occasion and every fashion magazine had arguments on the proper carrying of these purses. In the reticules one would find rouge, face powder, a fan, a scent bottle, visiting cards a card case, and smelling salts.
The term "handbag" first came into use in the early 1900's and generally referred to hand-held luggage bags usually carried by men. These were an inspiration for new bags that became popularized for women, including complicated fasteners, internal compartments, and locks. With this new fashion, jewelers got into the act with special compartments for opera glasses, cosmetics, and fans. The 1920's saw a revolution in fashion with varying hemlines and lighter clothing. Bags no longer needed to match the outfit perfectly and the rage was for the stylish lady to carry a doll dressed exactly like herself, complete with matching bag for her minature companion! The discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb inspired Egyptian art on purses.
The 1940's saw new austerity in clothing, including handbags with the war effort in mind. Metal frames, zips, leather, and mirrors were in short supply so manufacters used plastic and wood. The 50's saw the rise of important designer houses including Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Hermes and the 60's saw the breakdown of old notions of the classical and the rise of youth culture.
Copy is the most sincere form of flattery and, if so, Kate Spade, Gucci, Coach and Dior must be very flattered! There are many replica handbags flooding the market (just visit Canal Street in New York City!). Some of these "designer fakes" even carry the label of the Company they are imitating while others just have the signature "C" or "G" without the label. What's in the future of handbags? My personal prediction is more individualized bags and interesting fabrics.
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More commentsreally useful, im doing a textiles project on bags, so it was a great help. thanks!
the article wasnt particularly useful for the corse work i am doin but i do think its cool
i'm currently doing textileds & working on evening bags. for homework, we need to research the history of bags & this has helped me a little bit :)would like more pictures though!
no help but to say i liked one line in the information.
its nice and interesting thanks
this article is exactly the same as something i have currently read
Well I will have to say that this article was very interesting and it did help me because I was looking some info on the first handbag ever made for my cousin's clothing and textile project however, some pictures are needed in order to make readers understand better and a more denotative choice of words will be greatly appreciated. Thankies ;-)
ive had a good read, its all very useful, but im a visual learner i enjoy looking at pictures, however there are none to look at thanks for your help any way
Thanks for helping me in my investigation. So much help but plz more photos! Danke!!!
Hello, I think the info you included is surprising!
May I ask you where did you get your sources?
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