What does your handbag say about you?

Ever thought about the colour, shape and style of your handbag and what it reveals about you?

Do you ever go out handbag spotting?

I must admit that I do....

Wander through any shopping centre, retail outlet or just glance across at what your fellow passengers on the bus or train are carrying, and you can start to imagine what that person's style personality might be or what their role, occupation might be.

Style icons, fashionistas, 'it girls' often favour the large suitcase brands- and moreover they can afford the mega pricetags. Many of us cannot afford them, yet we still search websites, ebay and TK Maxx for those elusive bargains.

Have you considered if one of those beautiful Burberry's would suit your scale and proportions - or would it look really stupid against your less than 5 foot tall petite frame?
Alternatively if you are that tall lady of grand proportions would that tiny clutch bag get lost under your armpit?

• Do you prefer an ornate, beaded, tasselled, decorative handbag, cross body bag or shoulder bag or a sleek and shiny briefcase style or a sensible, functional and practical rucksack?.

• Do you go for the bright jewel colours or do you stick to traditional black, brown or navy to match your shoes?

• Do you just need the tiny purse that takes a lippy and a tissue and maybe has room for a bank card?

• Or do you need the mega shopper to take spare tights, hairspray, full makeup kit, umbrella and lunch box as well as disposable nappies, toys and baby's bottle? 

Have you ever been embarrassed by the contents of your handbag spilling over the floor or across your desk at work? If you have, it probably made you do a stocktake and helped you to pare things down to the real bare essentials.Ask yourself ,

• do I really need to carry all this clobber around with me every day?
• do I really need a hefty suitcase or would a smaller handbag suffice?
• do I really need a handbag as well as my briefcase or could I have all my essentials and valuables in a pouch inside my briefcase?
• do I want to spend a lot of money on one best quality leather investment piece I use every day or do I like to have several manmade, or fancy fabric fashion bags some for work and some for pleasure?

The choice is yours, but whatever you choose, make sure the size and scale is right for you and flatters your body shape and proportions. Ideally it needs to suit your lifestyle and be appropriate in life,work and business.

These days its interesting to observe the the trendy males who now sport a 'man bag'. I've seen a few guys recently toting their large shoulder  or cross body bags whilst their girlfriends/ partners seem to be 'travelling light' without a handbag. Is this another development caused by advances in IT- it seems us girls no longer need to carry the contents of the kitchen sink- a bank card and mobile phone clutched in hand are possibly all that we need to carry.

Maybe large handbags should carry a Health and Safety warning:
 'Large handbags can seriously damage your posture and your bank balance.

I prefer the Government Health Warning and ultimate stress buster: