As the World Changes, My Bags do Not

What an odd time it is to be thinking about handbags, let alone writing about them. As the pandemic (whose name I can’t even bring myself to write in this blog) sweeps the world, it seem vapid and privileged to think back to the hours I’ve spent researching various designer bags, hunting for the lowest price possible. But then again – is it?

In times like these we must stay true to the things that bring us joy, and while the fashion world is changing before our eyes, fashion has been and always will be an escape from reality and an exploration in to imagination and expression. As I sit in my bed in my husband’s sweater and my leggings (...well to be honest I don’t even have leggings on yet), looking at my Fendi 2jour, Balenciaga City, Givenchy Pandora, and Jerome Dreyfuss Carlos, I can’t help but smile.

Even with absolutely no where to go, other than perhaps the kitchen come to think of it, the bags sit triumphantly in my home, a reminder of all the places I’ve been, all the outfits that made me feel cooler than I really am, and the confidence they brought me even as my relentless depression inevitably crept back over me.

The Fendi 2jour sits upright in attention atop my jewelry box, chic and ready to be filled with documents to be taken to a business engagement. The Balenciaga City slouches with its supple vibrato leather eternally exuding cool, begging to return to Paris for more shopping in the Marais. Atop an old Fendi shopping bag the Givenchy Pandora, filled with scarves to maintain its shape, is ready for any adventure – be it a park, museum, or more than likely a local dive. And then there is the cheetah print pony hair (that’s cow hide folks) Jerome Dreyfuss Carlos, thoughtfully placed on a vintage suit case that once belonged to my grandma. This bag, perhaps more than any other, sings to the outfits that beg to be worn with such a rad bag- there is not much cooler than pony hair if you ask me.

All these bags and no where to go, but doesn’t really matter does it? Our clothes, our adornment, they do not make our lives what they are, they are simply along for the ride as we live our lives. They age and fade, just as we will, but they hold on to our stories, their stories, forever. Just as my bags have held my items as I’ve adventured through life, they now hold my memories.

It may seem that this will never end, and that fashion can never go back to what it once was. While the latter is likely to be true our adornment is ready for us the second this moment comes to pass. Bags, jewelry, that favorite dress, they wait, ready to have us live our lives in them once more. Until then- go take a look at your bags, who knows… they may just make you smile.