In the 1950s handbags became increasingly affordable for a range of women. Because of the invention of washable plastics, pastel colours were at last a possibility for everyone, not just the rich. In America, ‘lucite’, a new plastic that could be transparent or opaque, was used for moulding boxy handbags in a variety of ingenious and imaginative shapes, which were then ornately decorated and embellished. This clear perspex handbag engraved with bird and floral decoration is possibly French.