I love (selfmade) handbags

Column translated from Dutch by Google translations

What do women have with bags anyway? Precisely. Everything. I don't have a single girlfriend who goes through life bag-less. The bag is generally a permanent fixture in a woman's life and more permanent than her partner. Men are sometimes traded in for a better version. But that bag is irreplaceable.

Bag - bags
 It is true that the term 'bag' does not necessarily mean one specific item. Bags can vary considerably per woman and day in terms of shape, style and price. I have a single, persistent friend who has been "making do" with one bag all her life. Her bag is heavily out of fashion, but she's still in love. That exceptional bag, I must admit, has become even more beautiful with age, just as some men can. With emphasis on some.

Nothing is as it seems
The vast majority of women do 'it' with more than one bag. And believe me: looks can be deceiving. Does her bag look like a silly, ordinary bag? It may well be a very expensive branded bag, on which she spent at least a month's salary. Or is she rather casual about it? It only seems that way, because if a woman is given the hard choice between her bag and her date, then the bag really goes home.

You can also often see her life stage by looking at a woman's bag. Students like to swing each other's bags across the schoolyard. Fortunately, that use is part of a certain age, because a student with a laptop in her bag is a lot more careful with his precious material.

Then, of course, there's the festivals period of life: the bag needs to be as small as possible while still containing essential contents needed to get through a wild weekend.

And then there is a veritable tsunami of bags that go through life: from absolute fashion must-haves to practical carrying pouches.

Life is constantly changing
Whoever says that haircuts confirm the change in a life process is wrong. It is precisely the bags that announce a new job (chic laptop bag), a new partner (beautiful handbag), a new family member (the diaper bag), a new living environment (heavier artillery or a handy lightweight bag) or a successful career move (indeed: a Chanel or Hermès bag). Finally, there is the shopping cart or even a handy folding basket (with zipper!) for the walker: the stable partner for a woman to get through the autumn of her life calmly and safely.

Been there, done that
I've had them all by now. From beautiful brand bags to unbranded flight attendant bags that turned out to be the most practical. Now it's not the case that my house is full of bags, because most of them have long since been entrusted to someone else via dating sites for women & bags. The trolley was extremely useful in physically difficult times and during long journeys.

I'm afraid that my love affair with bags will also end with a trolley. Never again will my shoulders be bothered by an overweight bag, overstuffed shopping bags and those hideous nylon bags.

And yesssss ofcourse: NOW the handbag is a self-made handbag.  Because that's the best excuse to have a bag, or a few more...

Bags are beauties