Historia De Las Bolsas

Have you ever wondered about the origin of handbags and purses? Handbags have been essential to fashion history ever since people have had something precious to carry around with them and only theitems have changed over time. The very first mention in written literature comes from the 14th century, even though Egyptian hieroglyphs show pouches carried around the waist. Bags were attached to whatwere called "girdles" which were fastened to the waist. Embroidery and jewels adorned these articles and were used to show status - the richer the person, the more elaborate the bag.

The pictureat the right shows a woman with a drawstring work bag. In one hand, she holds a pair of scissors and a piece of gauze, which was very popular and expensive in the 18th century.
In the 16th century,handbags took on more of an air of practicality with the use of everyday materials such as leather with a drawstring fastener on top. During this period, cloth bags were used that were made larger andused by travelers and carried diagonally across the body. The 17th century saw more variety and both fashionable men and women carried small purses with more complex shapes. Young girls were taughtembroidery as a very necessary skill to make them marriagable and we see the rise of beautiful and unique stitched artwork in handbags.
Neo-classical clothing became popular in the 18th century with areduction in the amount of underclothing worn by women. Wearing a purse would ruin the look of this clothing so fashionable ladies started carrying their handbags which were called reticules. Womenhad a different bag for every occasion and every fashion magazine had arguments on the proper carrying of these purses. In reticules one would find rouge, face powder, a fan, a scent bottle, visitingcards, a card case, and smelling salts.
The term "handbag" first came into use in the early 1900's and generally referred to hand-held luggage bags usually carried by men. These were an inspiration...