The psychology of the bags, forget looking into her eyes, if you want to know what a woman is like, she looks at her bag. Thus begins the best-seller How to tell a woman about her bag, in which social analyst Kathryn Eisman classifies different female archetypes based on the bag they use. Although the phrase may seem unscientific, the truth is that it is based on a whole psychological tradition that he sees in fashion, in general, and in bags and shoes, in particular, powerful objects of study from which to analyze the personality of their owner.
Beginning with Freud himself, who considered them to be authentic symbols of female sexuality, and ending with Jean Claude Kaufmann, director of the French National Sociology Center, who analyzes in the book Le Sac (2011) the history of the emancipation of women through through dividing the changes that this accessory has undergone. The practice supports the theory: on average, women own 19 different models of handbags, according to a global study by the British consultancy Diamond. And according to annual analysis by Bain & Co., bags and shoes occupy 28% of the market share, ahead of clothing, watches and automobiles.
When it comes to them, we don’t appeal to whim, but investment. There is even talk of collecting and addiction. “For many women they are not mere accessories, they are objects of worship,” say Sara Lago and Ana Iriberri, personal shoppers and directors of the Tu Asesor de Imagen agency. “A good bag is expensive, but it can be used every day. It cannot be made with clothes,” adds Suzanne Ferris, university professor and author of the landmark volume Footnotes: On shoes, she thinks we spend our money on them because “We cannot look at the blouse we are wearing, but we can admire the beauty of our shoes and bags every minute, and that reinforces our self-esteem.