Winifred Gallagher is a journalist, cultural critic, and author of many books including The Power of Place, Working on God, and Spiritual Genius. In this entertaining and inventive book, she delves into the meaning, the popularity, the cost, the uses, and the institutions behind the creation, production, and marketing of women's purses. Here are a few juicy quotations to whet your interest in this wide-ranging subject:
• "If you want to understand a woman, look in her bag."
— Dr. Valerie Steele
• "The bag is a box that holds all your secrets. Both inside and outside it reveals your personality."
— Silvia Fendi
• "A purse for a woman is like a toolbox for a carpenter."
— Ann Richards
• "A purse is the quickest way to register fashion changes and trends and to update your look. You love a bag on sight — or not."
— Roopal Patel
For a long time women just carried their lipstick and mirrored compact in their tiny purses along with keys. But during the 1980s more and more women were working, and they needed handbags big enough to serve as a survival kit and mobile office. Designers had a field day when the bag pushed aside shoes, jeans, and jewelry as women's top fashion item. It is a $6 billion dollar a year industry.
The bag is designed in such a way that it not only looks good but makes a woman feel good, writes Gallagher. Psychologists have discovered that many women value "contemplative objects" that elicit positive feelings and boost self-esteem. They like a certain bag because it gives them pleasure with its visual and tactile appeal.
Summing up her experience of assessing the pivotal roles of designers, tastemakers and others in the fashion industry, Gallagher states:
"Listening to average women . . . talk about their own bags helped me to see how a single possession — one of life's little things — can become a partner in a silent but rewarding relationship."
