26th June 2015

Bag it!

philippanestie Culture, Fashion, Image, Trending

Recently browsing my high-end magazines (bought on a low budget at the market again – bargain!) what item kept jumping out at me time & again saying ‘look at me, look at me’? I’ll tell you (& you may not be surprised..) the designer bag! Yes advert after advert, the ‘bag’ takes ‘centre stage’ the model is there it seems as a ‘mere accompaniment’, or herself an ‘accessory to the bag’ is this possible? Well I think it could be the case. I mean what is your life without a decent handbag? (& do you ever see the queen without hers??) Yes a bag is special & this cannot be denied & designers & their brand managers know this only too well & take ‘total advantage‘ of this point. But why is this the case? & when does possession turn to ‘obsession‘? I mused this thought whilst sipping my trusty tea & dunking in my digestive (most appropriate for this ‘deep meditation’) hmmm…no a bag is essential for carrying your daily & personal items safely, so that’s the practical side ‘out of the way’, a bag we know is so much more, we get attached to them & ’emotionally involved’. I am not a psychoanalyst but I have heard of ‘transference’, so is this what is happening with our bags? There is a certain amount of security & comfort in carrying one & you can feel quite ‘naked’ & vulnerable without…it. But going back to the ads, the bags are depicted as desirable, stylish, essential, beautiful, exciting, ‘individual’, expressive, exotic, alluring, mysterious, innovative..& that’s just starting!! But most all of your ‘friend’, your ‘companion’, your ‘confidante’ your ‘sister’ to be with you at all times, ‘out there’ in the world, going where you go, seeing what you see…of course a designer bag is also status symbol, & by carrying a certain bag, by a certain brand you are aligning yourself with their ‘ethos’ driven by how they appear aesthetically either in an ad campaign or on the arm of a celebrity, so you’re not only saying your ‘fashionable’ but that you can afford it! Let’s face it you can probably do a PhD in this subject! (& what a fascinating area this is!)

Of course bags can not only cost ‘bags’ of money but they make the brands ‘bags’ of money..& by ‘using’ a celebrity & naming a bag after them like the ‘Alexa’ & the ‘Birkin’ brand’s know they are on to something big. The sales reflected this...I’ll stop there on that point because that is not my concern at present…what fascinates me is the imagery, the desire, the obsession. A case in point was a recent news article where a young secretary became so obsessed with a bag in Fortnum & Mason after viewing it on several occasions eventually went on to steal it & got caught..(she even had the money to pay for it but her desire was such she just had to have it) she admitted she had some very difficult extenuating issues. I really did feel for her after reading this..& I can almost guarantee she’s not the only one… So I’m probably safe with my ‘no nonsense’ ‘no make’ bag… that ‘no one ‘want’s’..but that doesn’t stop me wanting & ‘dreaming’ of say Lanvin’s ‘Sugar’ bag in a variety of colours..with it I dream of ‘what I’m not’..I escape..my life of going down the poundshop it ‘evaporates’ & suddenly I transported to the streets of Paris…(as though I’m in a Jean Luc Goddard film)…I did say I was dreaming right?? Oh well back to the humdrum now…I think I need another biscuit..digestive that is…