Handbag
ca. 1890s (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Green morocco leather handbag
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | morocco leather |
| Brief description | Handbag, green morocco leather |
| Physical description | Green morocco leather handbag |
| Gallery label | THE HANDBAG
Some aspects of the handbag as we know it today originated from hand-held luggage commonly carried by men and known originally as 'handbags'. Such sturdy leather bags were designed for security, respectability and privacy and featured metal frames, locks, keys and multiple compartments. By the 1880s, handbags had lost their connection with utilitarian travel and gradually became fashionable accessories associated instead with women. These later versions allude to the characteristics of hand luggage in their construction and in details such as pockets and fastenings, but were much smaller and made of expensive leather, silk or velvet.
V&A, Room 40, Bags: Inside Out. (12/2020) |
| Credit line | Given by Mr Weingott |
| Object history | This bag is one of six late 19th c. bags given to the museum in 1956 by Arthur Weingott, a former employee of Selfridges said to have spent "the past fifty years in the handbag trade". |
| Bibliographic reference | Nominal File MA/1/W1105 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.65-1956 |
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| Record created | October 2, 2007 |
| Record URL |
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