"Just going to get a new handbag": it sounds so easy, doesn't it? But the gap between word and deed is never more daunting than in this sentence. Buying a handbag is not the work of a moment, or even a weekend. It is the Grand Canyon of shopping trips. It can take weeks, months, to find The One. If you're lucky, you will find it before the season changes and it takes an unearned sabbatical for the summer. But only if you re lucky. I'm not talking about decorative evening bags, or designer bags, like the Hermes Kelly, that are supposed to confer status - they are the thoroughbreds of the bag world. I'm talking about the carthorses in the hierarchy of bagdom, the ones that labour for a living and must do a proper job or face dismissal. A working bag has to tick a lot of practical boxes before you can even think about whether it's fashionable or feminine or expresses your innermost soul. That is why it is both such a difficult and such an essential purchase.
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