Archives for posts with tag: Fashion

The See Through Handbag

November 4, 2019 //
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I saw a young lady with a see through handbag the other day. I’m not talking about one of those recently fashionable items that has an opaque handbag inside another transparent handbag. I mean one of those handbags where you can see the contents of the bag.

It evoked in my mind so many different feelings that you could ascribe to the wearer and the viewer that I’m going to list some of them, four for and four against:

  • I can find everything I need quickly with this handbag
  • Using this handbag will mean I only carry what I really need
  • I don’t care that you can see what I carry in my handbag
  • I don’t care that you can see the condition of what I keep in my handbag
  • My handbag carries a multitude of sins and there’s no way I’m going to advertise them to other people
  • You have no privacy with that handbag
  • I don’t feel like my belongings are secure when others can see what they are and where they are
  • I carry a lot of stuff in my handbag and I still wouldn’t find what I need quickly

I thought the handbag was cool, but it was a little odd seeing the mobile phone, tissues, lipstick and make-up case of a total stranger. I think, on further reflection, that it would also remove a great deal of the taboo around topics like hygiene if one happened to see other items in there.

Where do you draw the line with the public display of things considered private in most societies, like underwear? Is it OK in the US for me to carry my pistol, for which I have a license, in my see through manbag?

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Categories Communication, Customers, General

The French Man Bag

August 22, 2018 //
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I was in France on a family holiday recently and I was reminded how many men of all sizes in that great country use a man bag – really a glorified purse the size of a very thick smartphone – to keep their keys, cash, bits and bobs handy.

It reminded me of previous family holidays in France, a thousand years ago, when I was the child instead of the parent.

Back then my father – who was way ahead of his time in terms of progressiveness, equal rights and being comfortable in one’s own skin and sexuality – commented on the same thing.

I remember his words. “I’ve always thought the small handbag French men use to be an eminently sensible idea.” This was back in the macho, chauvinist 70’s when a heterosexual British male wouldn’t be seen dead carrying anything remotely resembling a purse or handbag.

I agree with him. And I think that smartphone cases that come with a couple of pockets to hold credit cards and cash are going that way too.

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Categories Customers, General

She Wears the Trousers

April 20, 2018 //
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To wear the trousers: to be in charge, to be the one making the decisions…

Is this sexist, or at best chauvinist? Probably both. Apparently the phrase originates from the convention that men always used to wear trousers, whereas women always used to wear skirts or dresses, and the trouser-wearing man made the decisions. These days you’ll still hear variations on: ‘Yeah, Paul does talk a lot but it’s wife you need to talk to. She wears the trousers in that relationship.’

I assumed, wrongly as I’m sure you’re thinking, that the phrase originated in the fact that the male adult wore trousers and the male child wore shorts, so it was the senior person who wore the responsibility-laden garments. The parents are in charge, and supposedly one parent in a two-parent family is more in charge than the other.

How far are we from this scenario: ‘Yeah, it looks like his wife is in charge but it’s Paul who wears the skirt in that relationship.’

I know, there’s 3 ways to think about that conundrum: the sexism, the sartorial aspect and my ability to be in charge of anything…

 

 

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Categories General, Language