Trash the Bag

I spent a cold week in Paris last month. As I walked the glitzy Avenue Montaigne,I noticed that no one had a handbag with a logo on it. At the tres joli Montaigne Market store at the centre of this large road,which has the best finds from Givenchy and Alaia,I barely recognised any of the handbags. Ditto at Faubourg.

Two years ago,I wrote about a new taste for understatement where a few women were choosing a bicycle basket over Bottega’s basket-weave. I think the numbers are growing. But really,can a woman do without a handbag at all?

I decided to spend a week without mine and I struggled. But I sort of achieved it. For starters,I had to downsize. I emptied my day-bag on to the bed and actually had a look at the stuff I tugged along every minute of every day. My iPad is more for sitting my baby than me surfing. Out it went. Baby wipes,my son’s five and I like him grimy.

Out. Comb? I barely look in the mirror after I’ve showered. Makeup? Ha! The rest of it was receipts,sanitiser,crayons,lip balms of every flavour,a giant bunch of keys (when all I need is a single house-key) and a giant pair of sunglasses that will sit perfectly fine on my head. All out.

That leaves me with my wallet,a will-die-without kohl pencil and two cellphones (don’t ask). Last Monday,I had lunch with a former colleague. I packed my things into Dior’s New Lock sling bag,the most practical small bag with two sections and slits for cards. It worked. In the evening,I took my son to the park with my hands free and his FCB knapsack on my back.

The next day,a breakfast meeting was conducted with an adorable YSL purse the size of a small toilet bag. I ended up leaving it in the car and just taking my credit card in my trouser pocket.

I usually carry a cloth shopping bag in my day-bag — the afternoon’s purchases made me buy plastic bags from the grocer. Not good.

The YSL accompanied me to a dinner on Wednesday night for an Italian novelist. I only used it to call the chauffeur once I left the party. An office event is impossible without a purse. I was wrong. All I needed was my Blackberry to ensure that I was available for my guests to call. And who exchanges business cards these days but salesmen? New contacts are on my phone and my Facebook.

For two movie nights,I carried a bite-size H&M sling (10 Euros) I bought for my niece but kept for myself. One cellphone and one key in it. At the Ensemble sale on Saturday,I walked in coolly with my hands in my pockets,no one noticed.

The It-bag doesn’t fit anymore. More and more women in style are refusing to be part of a retail herd. It’s especially for these taste makers that luxury giants need to come up with a new story.

namratanow@gmail.com