FASHION : Little Purse a Big Hit : Designers have created a miniature inspired by the Grace Kelly bags of the early ‘60s.
Probably since the first caveman consented to his wife’s demand that he wipe his feet before entering their dwelling, women have been thought to have mysterious powers. Instinctively, goes one myth, women understand the needs of children. Graced with second sight, goes another, they can tell what a man is feeling before he knows he is feeling anything at all.
Over the centuries, a woman’s power has somehow also extended to her purse. Even if she’s only carrying a hair brush and a pack of Lifesavers, what’s in there is as mysterious and shrouded in secrecy as an Egyptian catacomb.
Men, of course, have taken the whole thing to extremes. Purses seem to terrify them. I’ve never met a man who could just pick up a purse and take it to his wife without looking like someone from the bomb squad. He’ll hold it in both hands, arms stretched stiffly in front of him, and make his way across the room as though the thing he is carrying is emitting radiation.
A man will also do anything he possibly can--and make up any excuse--to avoid ever having to look inside it. Even when he has been granted permission.
Husband: “Honey, do you have any stamps?”
Wife: “Sure, they’re in the yellow envelope in my purse.”
Husband: (Stiffens) “Well, could you get them for me?”
Wife: “It’s right there on the table.”
Husband: (Picks up the purse, brings it to her and then looks up at the ceiling) “I don’t know where you keep things. . . . Here, you find it.”
If Sigmund Freud were around today, he’d probably have plenty to say about the whole thing. A woman’s attitude about her purse would symbolize her sexual self, he’d postulate, and a man’s reluctance to look inside it his fear of truly knowing her.
Carl Jung--Freud’s friend and colleague before they fought over Freud’s refusal to have his own dreams analyzed--would probably disagree. A woman’s purse would be an archetype, he’d theorize. A man’s fear of looking inside it might be some kind of genetic memory from Lot, the biblical character who looked at his wife--at her request--and in so doing turned her into a pillar of salt.
Personally, I don’t know what to make of any of it. But I do know that the mystery surrounding a woman’s purse may be about to change. It could, in fact, disappear forever.
This year, designers miniaturized them.
No, they didn’t just make them smaller. They made them only slightly larger than a pack of cigarettes. Now in just about every handbag department around the county, the purses look like something your Barbie-loving 6-year-old would carry. You’d be lucky to fit a few keys and a lipstick case inside.
Designers also veered away from old-hat colors such as black and brown. This year’s line comes in neon colors such as fuchsia, purple and orange, as well as gold and silver. Some have long, thin shoulder chains, while others have a simple handle that you might be able to loop two or three fingers through.
“Oh, you’re talking about the Kelly bags,” said Kim, a handbag buyer for the May Co. who said she wasn’t allowed to give her last name. Kim says the bags were inspired by the Grace Kelly bags of the early ‘60s, which were a fashion rage back then.
The tiny bags are back, and they’re a big hit again.
Several fashion magazines are giving instructions to women on how to carry them (at the waist, with a daintily bent wrist) and how to adjust to the new size (exchange a wallet for a coin purse, carry credit cards in a small plastic case and buy one of those two-inch combs).
I like to think of myself as open-minded, but I have a feeling that I won’t be carrying one of these Kelly numbers in the near future. As hard as I try, I just can’t picture anyone taking one of these things seriously. I also can’t imagine what I would do without a purse that holds the books I carry in case I get stuck on the freeway, the grocery receipts that date back to 1989, the pens that ran out of ink ages ago and the bag of M & Ms I may or may not give to my kids.
I need these things with me and would feel naked without them.
Please don’t ask me why, though. It’s a bit of a mystery.
* THE PREMISE
Ventura County is teeming with the fashionable and not so fashionable. There are trend-makers and trend-breakers. There are those with style-personal and off the rack--and those making fashion statements better left unsaid. Twice a month, we’ll be taking a look at fashion in Ventura County--trends, styles and ideas--and asking you what you think. If you have a fashion problem, sighting or suggestion; if you know a fashion success or a fashion victim, let us know. We want to hear from you.
