“Handbags speak louder than words” said Shakespeare and this philosophy is one aspect of Shakespeare’s work that is so evident in today’s world. Gone is the fixation with make up and hair and many women dress in plainer clothes than ther male partners. But there is one thing that every self respecting woman wants and that is a good handbag. Witness Her Majesty the Queen who is never seen without her handbag; some say she even takes it in to the bath with her. Ditto Margaret Thatcher and fashionistas like Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Lindsay Lohan wouldn’t be seen dead without a designer handbag.
Of course as with many things in the world of women, practicality is not at all important, it’s the make that matters. Any woman who turns up at a dinner party with a TK Max or M&S bag might find herself ostracised in such company where bags such as the Lana Marks Crocodile Clutch and the Mouwad Diamonds are forever are likely to be the order of the day. To really show you have arrived a woman could save up and buy an ultra fashionable Mouwad 1001 Nights Diamond purse which will set you back a cool $3.8 million.
On a more modest level a woman who who doesn’t have a lot of spare cash could opt for a Gucci, Mulberry and Radley which are just acceptable in the chic bars and restaurants of London, Edinburgh and Paris
However the big mystery is what do ladies carry in these secret and magical receptacles?I
I once had a girlfriend who could magic almost anything from her well stocked handbag including a hair dryer, a first aid kit, torches, snacks and a giant pair of BBQ tongues which I later learned were eye lash curlers. As a somewhat disorganised and unpredictable person myself, I found the crazy contents of this woman’s handbag far more appealing than her voluptuous body and sweet perfumes
I once had an issue at work when a young woman brought in a pet rabbit in her hand bag and another who had complaints about BO until it was found that the ghastly odour surrounding her came from a long forgotten packet of fish fingers that were rotting in the depths.
My mother always told me to look at a woman’s mother to find out what your girlfriend will be like when she gets older but I have always found that looking at a woman’s handbag gives a far more accurate insight in to her personality (the same could be said of men’s wallets).
The woman with a bag, covered in tomato sauce stains with a muddle of long forgotten contents, who spends hours hunting for her car keys or lighter in the depths is likely to be a flibbertigibbet, a hoarder whilst being easy going with a high sex drive but with a chaotic lifestyle and a bad time keeper. On the other hand the lady with the multi sectioned handbag with index tabs on each section will keep a spotless house, will be well groomed decidedly unromantic and have high expectations that you maintain such exacting standards yourself which can be a problem for the more disorganised gentleman. A definite keeper for a military man but not do for the more bohemian men.
So we here on talk of the day we thought we would ask some of our lady readers what was in their handbags and from that see what we can read in to their real persona.F
First in the series we invite Lorna Harrow from Drumoak in Aberdeenshire to tell us what’s in her handbag?