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Warning: Harm may be found ‘In a Hand-e … bag’!

Ladies, it would appear from the latest ‘good health’ warnings, Lady Bracknell’s lines from The Importance of Being Ernest, regarding the finding of Ernest as a baby at Victoria Railway Station, so uniquely declaimed by Dame Sybil Thorndike¹: “Found?… in a Hand-e-bag!” shares shades of similar medical disapproval concerning our current usage of said receptacle.

First it was rucksacks, the bane of the British population who now habitually carry them everywhere with everything in them, whether they need many of the items or not, bowing our backs with pain. The backpack/rucksack started out solely as a tough life-long-lasting leather satchel for school-children to transport their books, now it is a public impediment that reduces body-space in locations such as the Underground, on buses, in trains, etc. by the increase of the wearer/carrier’s body-depth being double-decker thick! Backpackers also have a nasty habit of suddenly turning around, without looking, knocking other people about in their self-centred wake. The damage backpacks do to children and adults’ skeletal systems, and as a cause of back pain is well documented.^2&3 Now, as a cause of potential harm, it is the turn of the fashionistas fadist focus, which is incidentally ‘big business’ – ‘the handbag’!

Of the heavy mob, if properly used, the many-pocketed, pouched and zippered, weighty-to-carry when full, ‘Organizer’ handbag is still a godsend to the working, travelling, businesswoman.

However, the average ‘handbag’ which was normally commodious enough to accommodate objects such as a wallet-purse,⁴ keys, make-up, tissues, a hairbrush and comb, feminine products and other items, e.g. perfume, is overshadowed by today’s ‘handbag’, whose owner may also stow away within it passport, travel tickets, digital camera, more keys and any medication on occasion. Indeed, on a daily basis, in addition to the make-up bags, keys, plastic cards, wallet-purse, and normal bag-items, les dames de mode will likely choose a bigger, consequently heavier super-size ‘bag’ to further stuff into it: mobile phones, (a cell phone/digital camera), MP3 players (iPod), head-sets, laptops, water bottles, as well as in some cases electronic games and/or their daily newspaper, favourite magazine or novel. Phew!

This heavy bag-load of ‘stuff’ carried around ‘cuts off’ the individual from contact with the general public, yet looks to be typical stimulatory gear designed to create the unquiet soul! Still, if there’s ‘no time to stop and stare’⁵ it gives the mentally agitated jigglers an excuse ultimately to go off on an introspective trip to the East at some point to ‘find themselves’ – a very popular vacational pastime in the 1960s.

In short, it is suggested women are in danger of harming their skeletal systems by toting ‘totes’, (big bags), incorrectly and overburdening our backs by putting a great deal more inside them than is truly necessary. But what might some voluminous overweight large handbags conceal one wonders? The means to surreptitiously remove builder’s rubble from the house to the nearest skip or tip on a daily basis?

What harm might toting capacious ‘totes’ around be doing beyond your body - to your shopaholic-ed⁶Bank account? What psychological in tandem with physiological damage is being wrought? Acquiring handbags, like all the shoes one cannot wear at once, or hats come to that, can become ‘addictive’ e.g. famous for greed, Imelda Markos ‘the Steel Butterfly’ owned 3,000 pairs of shoes!

In a world of plenty, often sadly lacking in any real ‘merit’, fashionable ‘much-of-a-muchness’ or herdism with a propensity to choose and follow the unacceptable face of mediocrity or worse, ‘the handbag’ is no longer a sensible object and accessory specifically designed to carry whatever is required to assist us in our daily lives. It has moved from being a simple necessity and accessory to an iconic ‘fashion fad’ and ‘must have’ that various so-called celebrities, name-brand personalities (Birkin bag) and/or fashion houses dictate is the ‘It bag’ or ‘Power bag’ of the moment, whereby the ‘use’ for the ‘bag’ in question has ultimately lost its meaning. . (See bag types)⁷

Of late, bags are even being photographed by ace photographers like Mario Testino and described as ‘the bag with such-and-such a model, not the model with the bag’. Perhaps the next creative development will be an animated film about the life of ‘the bag’!

Roll up, Roll up, and Place your bets

Is your financial success marked by ‘the bag’ or ‘in the bag’ you wear/carry quite literally?

Bag price-tags can be enough to warrant taking out a mortgage or have people running to the Bookies to secretly visit their pretend ‘rich Aunty’ who may ‘bail them out’ of trouble on the odd occasion. For example, the modestly priced £750 leather quilted “Burberry Manor” bag, part of the “Burberry Icons Collection” which is a commemorative line to mark the company’s 150^th anniversary, is a home-grown choice - Buy British! if that’ is your bent.

One of the most expensive bags in the world is the “Hermes Birkin”. It is considered the ‘holy grail’ by world-class bag-fanciers, and has a 7-year waiting list that is ‘closed’. Prices, each bag is individually created, start from £4,000 and rise to £70,000 and more! One such, made from crocodile skin and diamonds, is to be delivered to the Middle East, costing £70,000!

Don’t go there – trying to join such an exclusive elitist herd of Bag-ladies, unless fabulously wealthy with the facility to do a fair bit more than just be a ‘lady wot lunches’; for to be seen with ‘it’ at least must be the only reason to wish to own it and pay the bodyguard to hang-about, while you munch with your equally wealthy pals i.e. social competitors. Anyhow, the way ‘inflation’ is rising, it is more likely that the “irresponsible choice” for new gambling Casinos to be allowed into the UK will find half the OAP’s, (a mixed bag of cash-strapped senior citizens), green around the gills, rolling dice or putting their shirt ‘on the nose’ of horses with names like “Council Tax”, “Hip-Op”, and “The Cataract Kid”, rather than “Louis Vuitton” or “Chloe’s Paddington”.

As overweight and obesity have crept through the population, making it less and less possible for the majority of women to wear ‘high fashion’, this too has contributed to ‘the bag’ gaining ground and popularity, with the kind of rampant competitiveness in designer talent and flair Plutoed⁸ by the establishment regarding its use in the education system for our children’s schools. Yes, good old-fashioned ‘competitiveness’ leads the way towards the ‘edgy’, or to those handbags that ‘have the edge’ on some others. In design, more than in any other field of achievement of successes in the business-fashion world of today, Big Bags Rule!

There’s no denying that high-fashion handbags are in high demand, especially for the dedicated followers of fashion who subscribe to the vacuous materialistic and transient ‘must have’ culture far beyond their means. If you are bored with your Bottega? Passé with the Prada? Or, you fancy a Fendi instead? There is of course a half-way-house answer to ‘ownership’ of the ‘It Bag’ for the relatively short life of purely ‘fashion-bags’ that may keep you out of the debtor’s prison, hire the bag, become ‘ a Bag Borrower’.⁹

For example, in 2004, ‘Bagborroworsteal.com’ started in the US, giving members for a monthly fee, (rate dependent on luxury level), the ability to borrow the accessory of their choice (the website offers 50 of fashion’s best-known names), and then swap it for another. If the borrower wishes to stick to their bag of choice, they also have the option to purchase it at a ‘steal’ of a price. Why don’t you know about this service? Well, word of mouth is the most likely way news of such a service will come to light because it mostly attracts the dedicated bag-addict, and users who are highly unlikely to declare that the ‘cool’ new bag dangling from their shoulder is just a rental!

Back to Bags ‘n Bones

Weigh-in! Why bother going to a gym to lift weights! Even a medium sized ‘handbag’, if liberally embellished with decorative hardware, can weigh 4lbs (2 kilos) empty. Not only has the load of hardware embellishments of bags driven their weight up, ‘size matters’. It is said large ladies are inclined to go for bags bigger than their bums, with a view to balancing out their size; conversely, the slightly built and petites also like ‘big bags’ for contrast, as it makes them look more slender and ethereal. Unfortunately, the larger the ‘space’ capacity of the ‘bag’ the more gets put into it, and we already know that upper back pain is associated with school-bag weights of 3.4-4.45 kg. (7.48-9.79 lbs approx. 7-10 lbs.).¹⁰

It was recently reported from Dr Jane Sadler, family physician, on the medical staff at Baylor Medical Centre in Garland, Texas, who sees many women with neck pains and headaches; her method of approach to the problem is to first weigh their handbag, which on average weighs 3.1-4.5kgs. (6.82-9.9lbs) that shows and confirms this same correlation between weight being carried and pain.¹¹ The ‘soul on the shoulder’ is fast becoming fashion’s shoulder burden.

Why do women carry handbags anyway? According to some, it’s to do with being the traditional ‘caregiver’ in the family, from prehistory to the present.¹² One explanation given by Vivian Lew, a Wesleyan University psychology student who researched the women-purse connection: women carry more stuff to generate feelings of “preparedness, security and comfort”, concluding it was “an intimate companion and portable refuge.”¹³ When it doubt – rummage?

The American chiropractic Association recommends that handbags should weigh not more than 10% of the owner’s body weight.¹⁴ This seems a great deal heavier than may be practical to carry without consequences for any length of time e.g. some women carry laptops around with them that weigh about 8lbs alone.¹⁵ It is recommended that laptops be carried as close to the body as possible and to switch sides frequently.¹⁶

Dr Sadler said: “If you think about how you carry a bag it’s usually on one side and you pull your neck to one side and lift your shoulder. It’s a very unnatural position. It creates strain along the neck and into the nerves that exit the neck and down the shoulder.”¹⁷ Ouch!

William Case, a physical therapist in private practice in Houston, Texas, has stressed the importance of correct posture while carrying bulky bags, keeping the head and shoulders aligned upright; plus to frequently change the size and weight of bags carried.¹⁸

On the designer handbag front, style need not be sacrificed for health, as most top designers offer mini, regular and oversize versions of the same style.

He also made the brilliant suggestion for designers “to place a cute, educational ‘caution tag’ on all bags to inform of potential neck and shoulder dangers.”¹⁹

Is Your Bag Buggy?

You already know that the mobile phone you may keep in your handbag can harbour more bacteria than a toilet seat.²⁰ It was found via laboratory studies conducted by Baylor Health Care System and the University of Arizona researchers last year, that handbags also carry harmful bacteria including E. coli and staphylococcus aureus, which can cause impetigo skin infections and toxic shock syndrome.²¹

The researchers recommend women occasionally wipe down their bags with an antibacterial solution and hang their bags on a hook (usually behind the loo door in the UK) in public toilets (restrooms). They also suggest that handbags be banned from the vicinity of the kitchen, their counters and food preparation areas.

A Bit of Baggy History:

The handbag is said to have evolved from the primitive draw-string leather money-pouch that graduated to the larger version of the ‘Dorothy-bag’ via the 16^th century ‘sweet’ bags, which were literally bags made with a variety of sweet smelling herbs to scent handkerchiefs and to disguise foul smelling odours from privy and street, both human and animal.²³

Pockets in garments for carrying small personal belongings were the next step and were called ‘bagges’.²⁴ Pockets were very high class expensive additions to clothing, documented from c.16^th-century onwards. Today’s cheap clothes usually omit pockets to cut down the amount of material used, thus cutting costs of the garment’s production. However, the female fashion silhouette changed and in the late 18^th and early 19^th-centuries, pockets were ‘out’ and little drawstring bags or purses called ‘reticules’ were ‘in’.²⁵ These were definitely forerunners of ‘the handbag’ and could accommodate a handkerchief, fan and dance card, a scent bottle, face powder and rouge, but nothing heavy as they were made from lightweight materials such as plain or embroidered silks and satins, often to match the dresses they were worn with.²⁶ This is the origin of the Dorothy bag.

The Victorians used the draw-string Dorothy bag a great deal, but innovative ‘bag’ designs began to be made by hobbyists and needlewomen and so the bag progressed to the ‘hand’ carrying style.

By the early 20^th century almost all European women carried a capacious handbag outside the home. Handbags have adapted along the way from carrying makeup, comb, keys and cigarettes and their paraphernalia to the ‘handbag’ as we know it today.

Shoulder bags were not introduced until WWII, to carry gas-masks and the like, and were worn diagonally as a practical way to carry weight;²⁷ but from 1950s-1990s the shoulder bag has been worn with the nonchalant air of as a fashion accessory and rested on the one side of shoulder and hip.

Some Types of Bags:

Clutch: Small, flat rectangular bad without a handle, style often used for evening bags.

Duffle: A large draw-string bag, usually used for travel or sports.

Satchel: Large bag with small handle that is carried on the arm rather than on the shoulder.

Shoulder bag: Any bad with a shoulder strap i.e. a large handbag that can be carried by a strap looped over the shoulder.

Shopper (ex Carrier bag): any type of bag of plastic, paper, string or cloth, with handles used for ‘shopping’. Recently, model Kate Moss was carting about a £2.99 tote from Superdrug that became a ‘fashion’ item overnight!

Tote: A capacious bag or basket which is synonymous with carryall or holdall.

The “It bag”: an expression resulting from the explosive growth of the handbag market in fashion in the last decade. It is the successful designer ‘bag of the moment’ fashion that spreads like wildfire via fashion, celebrity promotion and astute fast marketing. An example is the Birkin Bag²⁸ - a handbag manufactured by the ‘high end’ leather goods and ready-to-wear manufacturer Hermès. It is named after British-born actress and singer Jane Birkin, long resident in France.

Other ‘brand names’ are well-known, such as ‘Louis Vuitton’,²⁹ luxury French fashion and leather goods brand from Paris, France, named after its founder Louis Vuitton (1821-1892) who designed and manufactured luggage during the second half of the 19^th –century.

‘Coach Inc.’³⁰the American leather goods company, which began in 1941 as a family-owned business in a loft in Manhattan, New York, USA, is well known for ladies handbags and the quality of their goods made to last a life-time. A special hallmark is their policy that any Coach product may be repaired for a nominal fee for the life of the product by sending it back to them with a note or letter stating the problem. Howzat for ‘after-sales’ care.

NB: For Backpack Safety: How to load and use them correctly (see The Nemours Foundation – http://www.iconocast.com/News_Files/HNews8_12_05/Helath9.htm

References:

1. Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike CH DBE (1882-1976): was a British actress, made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1931, and the sister of author Russell Thorndike.

2. ’Back pain and backpacks in school children’ Skaggs DL, Early SD, D’Ambra P, et al. children’s Orthopaedic Centre, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and the Keck School of Medicine, Uv. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. J Peditr Orthop. 2006 May-Jun; 26(3):358-63. CONCLUSION: “The incidence of back pain in early adolescence approaches that seen in adults. Recommendations for an ‘acceptable’ weight of backpacks cannot be made from this study, as the weights of students’ backpacks seem directly proportional to the likelihood of back pain. This study identifies 2 factors associated with self-reported back pain in early adolescents that are amenable to change: availability of school lockers and lighter backpacks. These findings may be useful in advising families and influencing school policies.”

3. ‘The association of backpack use and back pain in adolescents.’ Sheir-Neiss GI, Kruse RW, et al. Dept. of Research, Alfred I, DuPont hospital for Children, Wilmington, Delaware, USA. Spine. 2003 May 1; 28(9):922-30. CONCLUSION: “The use of backpacks during the school day and backpack weights are independently associated with back pain.”

4. American: Purse: is a small bag, also called a handbag.’ In Britain, a purse is a small money container similar to a wallet, but typically used by women and including a compartment for coins. Normally women carry this purse in their ‘handbag’, which is much larger generally.

5. William Henry Davies (1871-1940): Poem entitled Leisure – “What is this life, full of care, we have not time to stop and stare,” …

6. Shopaholic: a person who shops compulsively and/or very frequently.

7. Bag Types: (See Comment)

8. Plutoed: To be ‘plutoed’ is to be demoted or devalued, as happened to the former planet Pluto’s status of late.

9. ‘Dedicated borrowers of fashion’ BBC News Online, 29^th July, 2004.

10. ‘A cross-sectional study of self-reported back and neck pain among English school children and associated physical and psychological risk factors.’ Murphy S, Buckle P, Stubbs D. University of Ulster, UK. Appl Ergon. 2006 Dec 18; (Epub ahead of print]

11. ‘Fashion bags are a pain in the neck’ D. Mail Foreign Service, 18^th January 2007 & ‘Rise of the Killer bags’ by Claire Coleman: Lifestyle, Daily Mail, 22^nd January 2007 & ‘Handbags a health hazard, women warned’ by Martin Roberts, Toronto, Canada, Reuters Life! 16.1.2007 & ‘Big handbags can be pain in the neck’ by Jennifer Harper, The Washington, Washington Times USA 16.1.2007 & ‘The burden of fashion Large Handbags causing rash of neck and back pain in women.’ by Rachel R Briere, Sun Staff.

12. ‘Why do women carry handbags? Is biology the answer? Do you think it is ordained in the female genes or is it a choice? – http://henrietashandbags.com/handbags_and_women.hutml

13. ‘Fashion bags are a pain in the neck’ D. Mail Foreign Service, 18^th January 2007 & ‘Rise of the Killer bags’ by Claire Coleman: Lifestyle, Daily Mail, 22^nd January 2007 & ‘Handbags a health hazard, women warned’ by Martin Roberts, Toronto, Canada, Reuters Life! 16.1.2007 & ‘Big handbags can be pain in the neck’ by Jennifer Harper, The Washington, Washington Times USA 16.1.2007 & ‘The burden of fashion Large Handbags causing rash of neck and back pain in women.’ by Rachel R Briere, Sun Staff.

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid.

17. Ibid.

18. Ibid.

19. Ibid.

20. ‘Is your Mobile Phone Bugged?’ – www.herbsphere.com

21. ‘Big handbags can be pain in the neck’ by Jennifer Harper, The Washington, Washington Times USA 16.1.2007

22. Ibid.

23. ‘A Brief History of Bags and Purses’ - http://www.hants.gov.uk/museum/bags/bags02.html

24. Ibid.

25. Ibid.