Accessory Challenge: Inspirational Purses

Posted on by

You might think of the purse as a pretty modern invention. Not so! People have needed to carry their crap around for millennia, both women & men. Here are some nifty purses to inspire your next project.

 

velvet purse with metal hinge frame, late 1400s, image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art

velvet purse with castle-shaped metal hinge frame, late 1400s, image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Portrait of Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria wearing a ring bag at his waist, 1557, image from Wikimedia Commons

Portrait of Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria wearing a ring bag at his waist, 1557, image from Wikimedia Commons

French promenade costume fashion plate with waist pouch, 1675-77, image from LACMA

French promenade costume fashion plate with waist pouch, 1675-77, image from LACMA

beaded drawstring bag commemorating ballooning, 1783, image from MFA

beaded drawstring bag commemorating ballooning, 1783, image from MFA

dotted reticule (with plaid dress!) in Le Journal des Dames et des Modes, 1800

dotted reticule (with plaid dress!) in Le Journal des Dames et des Modes, 1800

 

Delphine de Girardin, french writer and journalist, with a leather bag, 1850, image from Wikimedia Commons

Delphine de Girardin, french writer and journalist, with a leather bag, 1850, image from Wikimedia Commons

 

leather shoulder-strap purse with walking suit, 1895, image from V&A Museum

leather shoulder-strap purse with walking suit, 1895, image from V&A Museum

The sizes & shapes of purses change, but the need to stash a few things on the body doesn’t. Extant purses go back to the middle ages, & bags can be found in portraits & fashion plates all over the place if you look hard enough. Need more? Download this PDF (94.2MB) from a class I taught several years ago at Costume College — it’s an annotated visual overview of purses from the 1200s to the 1950s.