Thursday, October 21, 2010

It's in the bag with everything else

That there is my brown silk '40s handbag with the Lucite clasp. It can hold with quiet grace my phone, some lippies, a hankie, a biro, my ipod. wallet, sunglasses and maybe some jellybeans if necessary.
This is the most recent addition to my vintage bag collection. Many of you will recognise it for what it is - a Coach saddlebag from the early 80s. It can hold roughly the same quantity of stuff as the brown bag.

These bags indicate roughly what I carry around on the weekend. Basic stuff.

You've seen my work bag. Here is the edited content's of said bag's stomach.

I say edited because frequently there will also be a couple of newspapers, a magazine, some shoes if I've changed from my heels, spare pantyhose, a piece of fruit, teabags, a cardigan, a bottle of water, several biros of dubious heritage and probably some more lippies in amongst the partly digested contents.

This morning I sat mooching on the bus, crushed under the weight of my handbag, admiring all the women I could see standing at the bus stop down in Annandale. And then I saw her, a tall woman wearing a wonderful combination of black, grey and cream, artfully fossicking for her bus ticket in a handbag. A plain black vintage handbag of modest dimensions, a bag like any number of bags I have stashed on shelves and in cupboards. Ms Black-Greycream was carrying a regular sized bag as her handbag.

After all these years of lugging my giant bags, it occured to me right there that I want what she's having. I want to carry a regular sized bag to work. A smallish bag with the basic necessities. No newspapers, no pantyhose, no freakishly large apples, no extraneous lippies.

I plan to do it tomorrow. I will be the unencumbered cool drink of water up the back of the bus, neat handbag on her knee, travelling on her bare necessities. What could possibly go wrong?

5 comments:

  1. You have tempted Lady Fortune. I hope she is kind.

    I love your Bayswater bag.

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  2. That brown silk bag is the cutest thing I've seen in years. Does it have a sister?

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  3. Good luck! It's tough to downside when you're used to a bigger bag.

    I love that Coach bag!

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  4. Haha let me know how that works for you... I have tons of bags purchased for that purpose, but just bought a "mom bag" because I just have to lug around too much gear now. I even blogged about it (I was home sick, with no outfit post)

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  5. Thank you Dorky! I think the Bayswater is the best bag design in the universe. Sadly Lady Fortune must have had a migraine today. Shybiker, my brown bag is an only child but has lots of cousins! I'll try to introduce a few this weekend. Sheila, I think it might be a lot tougher than I thought! I love the Coach bag too, exspecially it's thick leather. Lawyerdoll, the bag defeated me. I'll read your blog now to see your new bag! Hope you're feeling better too.

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