What's In Your Bag?

December 11, 2014 6:50 PM

Do you know your purse history? Would you like to visit a museum of purses? Did you know the world's largest handbag was sewn by a group called The Pickles? Do you have $200,000 for the world's most expensive handbag? Maybe your purse doesn't contain what's in Qyeen Elizabeth's handbag, but that doesn't mean it can't contain the world's largest wallet. If you do love handbags and purses, maybe just take a trip through a set of lovely examples of the craft.
posted by xingcat (12 comments total)

How extraordinary! Queen Elizabeth has the leader of those that feel a strong desire for something, in her handbag. Hankerchief.
posted by unliteral at 7:05 PM on December 11, 2014

I know that first link was from a book but the constant definitive assertions about various bits of fashion history made me twitchily desire citations. Maybe the writer gives sources in the actual book. If you're going to tell me that purses began as a symbol of a fertile womb, you better have a good source.
posted by emjaybee at 7:12 PM on December 11, 2014 [3 favorites]

I had to scroll very, very far down that pinterest board to find a purse I'd even consider carrying.
posted by FirstMateKate at 7:26 PM on December 11, 2014

In a thread about purses, this seems appropriate.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 7:29 PM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

Wanna visit two purse museums? I got ya.
posted by box at 7:38 PM on December 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

Unlike FirstMateKate, I found a lot to love about the purses on that Pinterest board. Thank you for this post!
posted by rednikki at 9:20 PM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

This is a great post -thank you!
(I even loved the subtle subversion of Royalty by misspelling the Queen's title. :D )
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 9:52 PM on December 11, 2014

Wanna visit three purse museums? No problem.
posted by neushoorn at 1:47 AM on December 12, 2014 [2 favorites]

I have seen inside the Regent's handbag. I was part of a video crew that was filming an event she was at. I was positioned on a balcony as she passed underneath it. She opened her bag. It contained : lippy, a hanky and what looked like mints. The bag seemed really empty.

I know this is all a bit underwhelming, but if I don't tell this 'anecdote' here when am I going to tell it ?
posted by devious truculent and unreliable at 3:51 AM on December 12, 2014 [5 favorites]

Surely Queen Elizabeth's handbag contains lipstick-smeared Kleenex, lint-covered Lifesavers, corgi treats, and a bottle of gin.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:39 AM on December 12, 2014 [2 favorites]

(I even loved the subtle subversion of Royalty by misspelling the Queen's title. :D )

That was more me trying to write this entry (on your Twitter behest) while I was live-tweeting Project Runway.
posted by xingcat at 6:01 AM on December 12, 2014

Handbag history: Roy Pickard of Syracuse, New York is credited with producing the first handbag to incorporate a zipper during the mid-30s and his company became known as The House That Made the Zipper Bag Famous. Pickard, who died in 2011, produced bags for many major retailers and was proud of announcing that he'd made more handbags than Ford made automobiles.
posted by kinnakeet at 2:01 AM on December 13, 2014 [1 favorite]