Chantal Eustace Vancouver Sun
Spring means its time for a new bag or two and time to give your shoulders a break -- but finding the right bag can be difficult
I'm never fully dressed without my purse. It's true. Beyond looking cute and adding a splash of colour to my outfit, my handbag is responsible for holding some of the most important things I own.
The stuff I can't leave home without, from an assortment of make-up, lip glosses and hand creams to my iPod, wallet and keys.
But lately, my purse has been wreaking havoc on my shoulders and neck.
Bag designers and fashionistas have bogged me down -- along with the purse-obsessed masses everywhere -- with winter's jumbo bag trend. Huge leather totes and shoulder bags, accented with pockets and serious hardware, have been the reigning "it" bags for too long. The bigger the bag, the more stuff we find to fill it with. The whole thing has left me searching for my keys in the bottomless pit of my big, fabulous bag.
I'm done with the whole thing.
Thankfully, it is spring -- time for a new bag or two. Lighter colours, smaller bags like the clutch or wristlet and the handbag work best with shorter hemlines and casual looks. Fabric totes or playful and original shoulder bags and super soft leather hobos in technicolor brights are sprouting up everywhere.
Time to give your shoulders a break.
Like anything important, the right bag is hard to find.
It's subjective too, since everyone's definition of style is different, says Stuart Sproule of Red Flag Design, a Vancouver company that transforms recycled nautical sails into stylish totes and sacks.
"Bags are really, really personal," Sproule, 31, says. "Style is sort of defined for yourself, so we try to keep things understated. Simple goes with all different outfits."
Instead of adding lots of zippers, toggles or fringes, he says, Red Flag focuses on durability. "It has to be strong enough to hold stuff and be practical," he says.
Vancouver designer Erin Templeton says making a good bag requires good ingredients and some thought about what looks and feels right. Size is key too, she says.
"A good bag should have enough room but not too much room," says Templeton, 32, who will open her own signature boutique in Gastown in June.
She avoids gimmicks and fad elements too, she says of her versatile looks.
"A good bag shouldn't be too trendy. It should be comfortable and strong," she says, adding she likes her designs to last and grow with an individual, not seem dated. "When it is too trendy, it can have too much information or people can get tired of it."
But handbag designer Maura Gramzinski, of Red Camper, thinks purses should stand out. Not surprisingly, every part of her eye-catching and rain-proof bags tell a story. They're made up of old slide-show film.
"It's a fun thing to have to express your own individuality," Gramzinski, 37, says. "I'd rather carry a bag that's me."
Some bags are status symbols. These super-purses hang off the wrists and shoulders of starlets like Gwyneth Paltrow and jet-setters like Nicole Ritchie, a quick and swanky symbol of someone's taste and budget.
The Birkin Croc Porosus Lisse with a clasp encrusted with diamonds in white gold, costs a whopping $148,000.
Fortunately, you don't have to sell your home to get a good handbag. (Though it doesn't hurt to start saving up.) Affordability is an important factor to New Yorker Stephen Holt, co-founder of Yak Pak. He wants his designs to be accessible to everyone so most of their bags range from $35 to $70.
"It's not about being inexpensive or cheap, it's about having a fair price," Holt says.
He says Yak Pak wearers might spend $200 on a pair of jeans, but the hip, urban, individuals he envisions like to get a good deal. Yak Pak shoppers also want a bag that can go from school to work and then on to the club, he says.
These affordable and fun bags absorb trends well too, he says.
The line features this season's focus on prints -- evident in dresses and hats and hoodies -- with pandas, unicorns, elephants and skull motifs, like the Yak Pak bag punk bopper Avril Lavigne's been seen toting.
TO PURSE OR NOT TO PURSE?
Pockets don't cut it. Stuffing pockets just adds bulk to areas that we don't need any help filling out -- like the derriere, where most pockets are located or worse, the hips. Besides, lipstick melts when it gets warmed by body heat and it stains.
A purse is not only an attractive and fun accessory, it is sort of like a third hand that doesn't get sweaty -- and it comes with a handy zipper or snap.
Even though we adore them, bags are constantly under fire. Thieves and thugs try to steal them and police warn against carrying them. Purses get searched at concerts and they get locked up when you head into some boutique's change rooms -- like Aritzia.
They can be weapons too. Who isn't familiar with the quintessential image of a granny wielding her purse in rage?
Mostly, they're just hold-alls that look good too. Still not convinced? Empty your pockets, look at your shadow and see the improved silhouette.
Better? Better.
