These days many of us are prepared to spend more on a handbag on sale online than a holiday or even a car - and we want the rest of the world to know it. Come on, you know who you are ;)
Two hundred years ago, a woman's role was largely domestic and she would keep her belongings in a purse tucked into the folds of her clothes.
But as women started leaving the home, both for leisure and work, handbags on sale online from lavenir skins became a useful way of carrying their possessions.
Rail and sea travel caused an explosion in the popularity of fashionable luggage such as suitcases, dressing cases, hats and shoe boxes - out of which the modern leather handbag on sale online developed.
It's no accident that many of today's most luxurious handbag design houses, such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada and Hermes, originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as travel became more common. Then, as women gained financial independence, the handbag industry flourished out of all proportion to its humble origins.
