Handbag
A handbag is a medium-to-large bag typically used by women to hold personal items. It is often fashionably designed. Versions of the term are 'purse', 'pocketbook', 'pouch', or 'clutch', terms which suggest rather smaller versions.
Content of handbags might include such items as wallet/coins, keys, mobile phone, cosmetics and jewellery, books/e-books, pen and paper, food and beverage such as a water bottle, pepper spray and other items for self-defence, tampons and other feminine hygiene products, contraceptives, tissues and infant care products, or a hairbrush.[1]
Men's purses
Men once carried coin purses. The oldest known purse dates back more than 5000 years, and was worn by a man, Ötzi the Iceman.[2] In early modern Europe, men's trousers replaced men's breeches during the 18th and 19th centuries. Pockets were added in the loose, heavy material. This let men carry coins, and then paper currency, in small leather wallets.[3]
Handbag Media
- Mi'kmaq porcupine quill purse (40412695490).jpg
Mi'kmaq porcupine quill handbag
- Bag Mosul Gambier Parry Courtauld Gallery.jpg
The Courtauld bag, thought to be the world's oldest surviving handbag
- Woman's muslin dress and straw bonnet c. 1830.jpg
Women's fashion from 1830, including a reticule handbag from France
Freitag Messenger Bag
- Handbags diagram.svg
Varieties of handbags (proportional)
- President George H. W. Bush, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner make statements to the press regarding Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.jpg
President George H. W. Bush, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner make statements to the press regarding Iraq's invasion of Kuwait; Thatcher holds her famous handbag
- Queen Elizabeth II 2015 HO1.jpg
Queen Elizabeth II with a Launer London bag in 2015
- Photo of My Animal Print Bag.jpg
Bucket bag with drawstring closure
- Vintage clutch (847652012).jpg
Clutch with fold-over closure, made of red snakeskin
References
- ↑ Hagerty, Barbara 2002. Handbags: a peek inside a woman's most trusted accessory. Running Press, pp. 14–5. ISBN 0-7624-1330-1
- ↑ Gerval, Olivier (2009). Studies in fashion: fashion accessories. A & C Black. p. 44. ISBN 978-1-4081-1058-4.
- ↑ "Leather Handbags for Men". Blaxtonbags. Archived from the original on 1 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2017.