Ladies and Handbag: Inseparable companion

Reasons for Women carrying handbags are as diverse as the handbags themselves. Generally women and handbags are inseparable. Carrying handbags is part of life for women and that explains why it is increasingly becoming a prominent practice. Not only does it beautify a woman, it also contains some of her private items.

By Yemti Harry Ndienla

But of late many women are using them especially during occasions to carry food and other stolen items home. This, I must say, is disgraceful.
Women in Cameroon say handbags compliment their outfits thus constitute part of their dressing. Others describe a woman who does not carry a handbag as someone putting on one shoe. Others say they use their handbag to carry little and sometimes “secret” items.

”Women generally have a complicated system, which is why they tend to carry handbags wherever they go. Their bags usually contain things like purse, powder and dresses (when they want to snick to a party and also to make the bag have a good shape). Also they put make-up in their bags which they use to brighten their face whenever they realise that it has lost brightness”, says Maryline. Women, according to Josephine, carry handbags especially when traveling to put in some of their personal things like toiletries. That as a mother, she also carry some of her children’s personal effects like drugs, diapers.
Victoria says though Women carry handbags for different reasons nearly all the women carry handbags to hide their “secret” items. Hear her “handbags are where women hide their secret things. Even my husband has no right to search my handbag because he knows that it is where my “secret” items are kept”.

“Handbags are part of my dressing”, says Emelda. Intimating that she feels fine and admired by people whenever she dress and carry a handbag that matches her dress. On this score she says most women have specific handbags for specific dresses and for specific occasions. “You know women’s dresses do not have pockets like those of men and we can only put our little things in handbags”.

However, queen Elizabeth of England uses hers’ for different reasons too. “Her Majesty does use her handbag as a security blanket. She carries it with her throughout the day as she moves from one room of the palace to another. She is rarely photographed without a handbag. All tables and her desk at Buckingham Palace and other royal residences are equipped with special hooks on which the Queen may hang her ubiquitous handbag. Finally, the Queen never uses a shoulder bag or clutch bag as these make shaking hands and accepting flowers awkward.

It’s not only what’s inside the monarch’s bags that is significant, but the bag itself, for she uses it to communicate with her staff in a very subtle manner. Before dining with the Queen, a point is made to inform guests that dinner will end in about five minutes after she places her bag on the table top. On walkabouts, she holds the bag to one side to show she intends to move on, at which point a lady-in-waiting joins the conversation, allowing her to slip away without causing offence. When at a banquet, if the Queen’s bag is placed on the floor, then it’s a sign that she’s not finding the conversation interesting, and wants nothing more than to escape. However, if the royal bag is dangling happily from the crook of her left arm, she is happy and relaxed.

The Queen carries a comb, a handkerchief, a small gold compact, and a tube of lipstick in her handbag. The Queen does carry money on Sundays–a folded note of unknown denomination which she discreetly places in the collection plate. One thing that can always be found in the Queen’s handbags is an S-shaped metal meat hook that she places on the dinner table’s edge to suspend her bag from so that it doesn’t touch the floor.

Also to be found inside is a collection of good luck charms, including miniature dogs, horses, saddles and horsewhips - most of them gifts from her children, reports the Daily Express. Family photos are also present, the most treasured of which is a snap of Prince Andrew, from when he returned from the Falklands in 1982. Other things that the Queen never goes without are her mints, chocolate drops for her beloved corgis and a couple of crosswords, which her servants snip out of the papers for her. Also ever present is the metal make-up case, made by Prince Philip and presented to her as a wedding gift 60 years ago. And if there’s still room in the bag she happens to be carrying, the Queen slips in a camera to take snaps to add to her private…”