THE HISTORY OF THE HANDBAG.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1262, 7 May 1896, Page 16

THE HISTORY OF THE HANDBAG.

Perhaps even more curiou3 and interesting than the history of dress as a whole is that of the rise and fall of the innumcrab'c B mall articles, useful and otherwise, with which the feminine portions of most civilised communities think P necessary to provide themselves. Some of those appurtenances come into fashion for no apparent reason, and go out again with equally little cause ?t any rate on the surface. Tho handbag, 'however, does not belong to the apparently aimless species. Poor woman ! Whether she be Old or New, whether she spell her name with a capital W or in the smallest type procurable, she can never hope to compete with man on anything liko an equal footing as long as she wears only one pocket and allows her dressmaker to put it in a place at once highly inconvenient to herself, and at the same time most temptingly accessible to the fraternity of pickpockets. It must havo been with a view to supplement the solitary pocket that so:ne one invented the handbag. Whon it tirst came in some years ago (I think ladies' skirts at the time were worn excessively narrow) it was almost entirely limited to a small leather variety, not adapted to hold much more than a purse and a pockethandkerchief, and perhaps a card-case. The bargain-hunter, übiquitous at sales, did not find these bags of much use to her; they were too small to hold all her purchases, but for more moderate shoppers they were well adapted, and became indispensable. Suddenly the handbag disappeared from the scene. The reason i°s wrapped in mystery. I have it on very good authority that the feminine pocket wasV'ilher handier in position nor more capacious than hitherto; hence there appears to have been no further cause far the abandonment of the handbag by the fair sex than simply feminine caprice. Perhaps, however, that may be considered sullicient. But for the reviral of the handbag recently, in even more than its pristine glory, we find a cause somewhat further below the surface. The philosopher, ever on the lookout for tho relations between cause and effect, may not bo much at fault if he traces the revival in a ereat measure to the bad times. I am not prepared to maintain that careful housewives grow less particular about tho custody of their money during the period immediately preceding the bank failures which we have all such good reason to remember, but it will probably be granted by the reader that to the bad times has been distinctly attributable the increase in the number of light-fingered gentry whose motto is "help yourself." The knowledge of this increase was not long in forcing itself painfully on the notice of the unwary, and jt became evident that precautions of some kind must be taken. If the advanced section of new women had had the courage of their opinions, 1 suppose they would have started wearing regular masculine coats, if not other portions of male attire; fortunately, so far, we have been spared this spectacle, and once more the handbag has come to tho rescue, lint, unlike its predecessor, it is now extremely varied, both in ehape, size, colour, and material. There is the handsome and luxurious morocco leather species, with silver mounts and multitudinous pockets. There is the commoner relation of inferior leather and metal mounts which speedily assume a brassy tint. There is the string variety, sometimes of dimensions sufficient to contain the whole of our bargainhunting friend's purchases ; sometimes just adapted for the reception of such small packages as pins, tapes, &c.; of course the purse always in addition. Then there is the cloth kind, with an expanding clasp, also varying in size and colour, peculiarly suitable from an anti-pocket-picking point of view. The silk or coloured linen home-made species, drawn up with cords and rings, may be regarded as an offshoot of the lastnamed family, and seems to enjoy a largo amount of favour.

Having now accounted for the revival of the handbag, and mentioned some of the principal kinds in use at present, it ouly remains for me to call attention to somo of its drawbacks. It is, in the first place, apt occasionally to be forgotten daring a shopping expedition, and is also liable to gape occasionally with disastrous effects. _ It also sometimes falls a prey to the snatching thief, who artfully approaches somo absentminded person and makes off with her property before she has recovered from her bewilderment,

In short, though the handbag may be an improvement on tho feminine pocket as generally known, it is not, and never can bo, a satisfactory substitute for tho receptacles which abound in the garments of the tyrant roan. Let him abandon these, and he will be a tyrant no longer!—"Eric "in Sydney Morning Herald.