The Secret History of the HandbagMeredith Etherington-Smith;Caroline Clifton-Mogg
The status bag existed long before Louis Vuitton put his initials on his Speedy 25. This illustrated history starts with medieval pouches embellished with gold and silver thread and semi-precious stones, and traces changing fashions up to the modern celebrity bag, with chapters on luggage, evening bags, jewel-encrusted and art bags, and current trends re-inventing handbags as ‘private objects of desire, their secret charms known only to those who carry them close’.