Surely we’re not really letting go of handbags?

There is certain chicness to the idea of leaving the house without one though. 

There is certain chicness to the idea of leaving the house without one though.

Recently on the bus I opened my smallest handbag and found the following: two quite sexy plastic thigh-high Barbie boots, my work pass, keys, phone and a small sandwich bag containing four Arrowroot biscuits (a clear tell that you share your home with people who are either very young or very old).

It was really quite a well contained edit for someone who tends toward carrying my entire life in my handbag. I’m no longer a new mother but the fear of being caught without a spare nappy, change of outfit, assorted random household item my child has become attached to, and emergency distractions to use in case of emergency remains. I have now become less of a human woman and more of a purveyor of snacks, water bottles and receptacle for things my children no longer want to hold, so carrying a bag roughly the size of a small car is the norm.

A ludicrously capacious bag may have been the perfect class-based insult on Succession, but for many women of a certain life stage it’s the reality (with the assorted twinges and neck pain to boot).

It’s also been one of the biggest trends this year—roomy, practical bags that can fit your laptop, emotional support water bottle (why are they so big!) and makeup case have been spied on runways everywhere from Bottega Veneta  (whose Andiamo bag has reached cult status) to Saint Laurent. It's an about turn from the not so long ago tiny bag trend that saw the rise of the Jacquemus cult Le Chiquito, that could fit maybe your Airpods and (hopefully!) all of your cares. 

The cult (and roomy) Bottega Veneta Andiamo bag. Image credit: courtesy of Bottega Veneta

So it was surprising, maybe even delightful, to read a report that claimed younger women, aged 18 to 35 were less likely to carry a handbag for anything other than work or school. Just 39 per cent of women in this category said they carry a bag, while 60 per cent of women 35 and older said they always carry one.  The study from Circana, a group that studies consumed behaviour, tracked online and in-store retail receipts across 150,000 consumers. In doing so it also found that this category bought two per cent fewer handbags in the 12 months that ended in April while older women bought 7 per cent more in the same time. That said, purchases of belt bags, waist bags and backpacks among this group were on the up. 

Theories put forward include changed ways of working post-pandemic (you don't really need a handbag to go from your kitchen table to your fridge), evolutions in technology meaning your phone is now also your wallet and also maybe that younger women don’t want to be quite so bothered. Or have neck pain—there are very real health risks for carrying a handbag that is too heavy!

Perhaps this is why someone paid around $100,000 for a tiny speck of a ‘handbag’ that can only be seen under a microscope? 

There are of course practical reasons for carrying a bag, and it’s unlikely people are really going to give up bags—the global luxury leather goods industry is said to reach 90.98 billion by 2027. Besides, we love bags, big and small! But maybe they don’t need to be so stuffed?

There's always a place for tiny bags that fit very little! Image credit: Getty Images

For if you’ve ever left the house with just your phone and keys, you will know a feeling of pure lightness (minus the moments of panic that you’ve left something behind) and a feeling of being dynamic and on-the-go, getting the most out of life by stripping out the unnecessary. It’s a feeling that Martha Stewart, lifestyle mogul, one-time jail bird and recent Sports Illustrated cover star, aged 81, knows well.

“What are handbags?” she told Vogue in a recent interview. “I have a Bandolier phone case, which is my pocketbook.”

If Martha Stewart doesn’t have space in her life to carry a sandwich bag of Arrowroot biscuits, then maybe I don’t either? Or at least, not all the time and not in my bags that are just for fun. 

Originally published as Surely we’re not really letting go of handbags?