A Fashion Historian Explains the History of the Handbag

Save 33% on your first Native Plastic-Free Deodorant Pack - normally $39, you’ll get it for $26! Click here bit.ly/nativeabbycox6 and use my code ABBYCOX6 #AD Skirt: www.madewell.com/quilted-crinkle-cotton-midi-skirt… Sweater (and all the antique bags that I filmed): Vintage from HelloVintage: www.instagram.com/hellovintagelovers/?hl=en

I got sick of my husband co-opting my purse and got him a solid, distressed leather cross-body satchel. He warmed to the idea immediately. Next thing ya know, he was also borrowing my leather bucket bag. Like, hey there, Mister!!! Buy your own! When his macho friends took a swipe at him over it, he told them it was a whole lot more grown man than their school kid back packs. LOL!

It makes me feel a lot better about myself knowing that for centuries women have been accidentally getting lipstick all over the inside of their "handbags" and it's not just me with this big mess 😅

Just this past Christmas I gave my husband a black leather messenger bag. One of my latest hobbies is restoring vintage leather bags. He kept saying how jealous he was that women get to carry so many different kinds of bags while he was stuck with an ugly backpack. So I got the most butch looking bag I could find and fixed it up for him. He carries it to work everyday. He works in a metal fabrication factory. It's only been a few weeks since Christmas but more and more of his male coworkers are ditching their backpacks in favor of shoulder bags. Way to go, guys!

YES!!!! Your “man purse” discussion is EXACTLY how I have been explaining it for over a decade. I’ve carried a purse since the early 2000s and have always immediately corrected anyone calling it a “murse” or “man bag” —- it’s not a “lady purse” when women use it, why tf are we gendering a useful accessory!?

My spouse used to ask me to put things in my bag when they didn't fit in his pockets. I finally got fed up with it and told him to get his own bag and - he did. Note that he wears cargo pants and I carry a small backpack (batpack - it has wings,) and all of his stuff STILL doesn't fit in his pockets! A bag is a bag is a bag. It's a useful item and if you make your life harder because you're too insecure to carry a bag, that's your problem. In all of the dresses and skirts I make, I insert pockets large enough for my entire forearm.

The types of handbag-like bags that men “could” carry as I was growing up: messenger bags, punky gas mask bags, brief cases, laptop bags, small gym bags and camera bags. Most of these are crossbody bags in specific materials and shapes to differentiate them from purses.

"...articles ... I use that term very loosely" Ooo, the shade! I always appreciate the the depth of time and research you put in across multiples sources to create an accurate fashion history video like this. It makes your 24 minute video worth more than the entire Glamour of history fashion series back catalogue put together!

Very interesting video. I live in Norway and in Scandinavia the backpack is the thing everyone uses, going back a long time. It's acceptable in every setting. Work in a bank: backpack. Work in a kindergarten: backpack. Being active and going outdoors: backpack. Men and women alike. The backpack: have your hands free to eat all the snacks😄

The men in my wedding party all wore kilts and sporrans. They sure where excited that they could fit all kinds of stuff in that little bag.😂

I saw someone talk about purses as having extra inventory slots and I can't stop thinking about them like that. A purse is for going on adventures

I have been wearing a kilt with a sporran fairly regularly for over a decade now and I find myself wishing I had the bag whenever I'm wearing jeans. There's just something so convenient about the way a sporran hangs that makes it quick and easy to access when you need it and it hangs well out of the way and is secure when you don't need it. There's never a need to put it down like a shoulder bag and it's never in the way like a waist pack is. It's great to get the keys and phone out of your pockets and still have room enough for loads of stuff. We definitely need to normalize the use of bags for everyone.

My favorite item of my dad's (he passed in 2020 in his 70s) is his leather crossbody bag that he bought in 2018 in the women's section of a store when we were on a cruise. He also wore women's sunglasses. The man had his own thing going on. Loved that for him.

As a resident of a large Mid-Atlantic city, everyone is carrying something as they walk around going about their business. Lots of folk carry backpacks, reusable shopping bags, messenger bags, purses, or hipbags. People gotta carry stuff. Period.

For most of the 20th century, men carried bags but just stopped calling them purses or pocket books. They were “brief cases,” “book bags,” or “back packs.”. I’ve used gender-nuetral back backs as my everyday handbag sometimes.

Abby teaching us dress history while talking into a milk frother is the energy I want for 2023. 💯

Would absolutely love to see a followup video on the history of backpacks! Especially since somehow because it's on your back and not your side it's been more acceptable for folks of all genders to wear and use even while the purse was femme-coded.

75 year old man in my office bought a cross body for the exact reasons you mention, he had to carry hand sanitiser and masks with him. He wondered why he didn't have one ages ago

About 2003, one of my male, 8th grade classmates got around the rule banning book bags (backpacks, messenger bags, ect all had to stay in lockers) but allowing purses in class by saying his messenger bag was a purse. No one else followed his lead so the teachers never made too much fuss about it.

I rarely carry a purse, unless I'm dressed up, which I rarely am. However, I am a crafter, and often carry my own type of "work bag" - namely, my tote full crochet projeccts and supplies. One day, I took it with me to a friend's house for Thanksgiving, about 40 minutes away from my home. My boyfriend normally would have come with me, but was unable to do so that year. Instead, my friends promised to send me home with a container full of home made ice cream for my boyfriend. Well, I stayed well into the night, and then had my drive home ahead of me. In order to make my load more compact, I stuck the ice cream in my craft tote. I then went inside, dropped everything off in the kitchen and crawled into bed. Later the next day, my boyfriend told me that he checked the freezer, but couldn't find the ice cream. My eyes bugged out in horror and charged into the kitchen looking for my craft bag. Thankly, my project at the time wasn't fancy, but there's was chocolate milk ALL. OVER. IT. Moral of the story: some things just don't belong in your reticule... 😅😅 (Though, I law some of the blame on my ADHD. 😂)