Vintage Purses, Handbags for the Retro Hobo Hippie Gypsy in You

There is nothing quite like the feeling of walking into a thrift store, garage sale, or flea market and finding, right in front of your very eyes, the coolest most retro purse you have ever seen. There is no doubt that this is an exhilarating feeling in and of itself, but the buzz you get when you see the price tag says only $3.00 is cosmic.

Purses have always held a special place in a woman's life and heart and the earliest writings about purses come from around the 14^th century. Way earlier than this though, ancient Egyptians (women probably), were filling up the walls of their caves with hieroglyphs of purses tied around the waist. These early purses were adorned with jewels, feathers and other items of value. The more adornment on your purse, the more important you were in your society. We do the same thing today, but the adornment is a designer logo or name. A purse with the famous Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Hermes label screams buckets about you and your ability to pay the extraordinary prices needed to be the owner of one.

Purses serve two purposes: 1) the carrier of secrets inside and 2) the signifier of importance. This is kind of like having two-faces. One of your faces is that you want to show off your brilliant choice of purse to the public. Your other face is the one you want to hide or conceal from the public -so you keep secrets inside your purse. Freudian psychoanalysts like to delve into this paradox of a purse to gain enlightenment about deep seated subconscious hang-ups.

The Roaring 20s did so much for women in so many ways. It is difficult to say which daring fashion trend helped the most. There is no doubt that shorter hems and lighter weight clothing took a heavy weight off women's backs. Along with the 20s came the idea that everything a woman wore did not have to match and be in the same drab material. During this era purse design soared.

The 50s saw another expansion of women's handbags. During this era purses were actually handbags which were carried in someone's hand. Grace Kelly created a fashion stir, still popular for many, when she used her Hermes handbag to discreetly hide her pouching pregnant tummy. Pockets on the inside and outside of handbags were popular because women needed somewhere to put their gloves when they were not needed. The 1950s & 60s saw larger bags become popular for toting around more personal needs when they were going to be away from home for awhile.

The 60s and 70s were a time of unrest and creativity in the worlds of music, dress, and philosophy. The beginning of this period saw a Grace Kelly and Jackie Kennedy refinement in purses. As the unpopular political agenda and the Vietnam War went on and on and on, there was a decided shift in purse styles. Purses blew up (Vietnam War pun intended) literally. They got bigger and bigger and were made of just about any material that could be sewn into a pouch. It became quite cool to make your own purses. The bigger and wilder they were the better.

Buying vintage purses is a hobby for many and finding a really retro and cool purse is like finding a treasure chest full of gold. Besides the locations mentioned earlier in the article, vintage purses can be found in as disparate of locations as your grandmothers attic to online shopping. Where you find your treasure doesn't really matter (unless it's a family heirloom), it's the finding at all that counts.