So Many Bags, So Little Time……

So Many Bags, So Little Time…….

 

So Many Bags, So Little Time……

I am a self-confessed  bag junkie, I love bags, any kind of bag from the iconic Birkin, Kelly, Jackie O to canvas totes and second-hand ‘old’ lady bags from the 50’s/60’s, in fact I can wax lyrical over a great, in my eyes, store bag… I just love bags and believe that they finish an outfit… I have visited Milan and Rome where bags, leather bags are an art form. In London, Leicester, Sheffield, and other cities and towns, I have trawled charity shops and found the most darling evening bags from a time when women carried lipstick, a key and handkerchief and not much else. So, imagine my delight when I discover that in Mumbai there are bag makers who can create a bag in your favourite shape, cut, leather finish for less than the price of a high street, ‘pleather’ bag….I mean, all sizes, colours, embossed, patent, suede, and all prices from the truly sublime to “Does he know what he’s selling?”

These dream sellers are crammed cheek to jowl behind swanky hotels and off tourist causeways – men in nice pants and shirts will empty their store cupboards to show you the different quality of leather, colours, finishes and if, they don’t get a sale, they will act as though you will come back and buy another time….What treasures have I found? Well, there is this real chic laptop bag in chocolate-brown, as well as a ‘blingtastic’ evening bag for mum, lover of all things shiny.  Got my eye on some beautiful, candy coloured purses – my sisters will think I am the best big sister ever….as well as some stylish leather note books for my creative and busy brothers. I have oohed and cooed over many beautiful leather things and yet, I am still searching for that leather bag that says ‘I belong to you’. This search has gone on for many years and I’ve come close a few times. Bought bags that I have enjoyed for years….yet, I don’t love them not enough to carry them everyday….they are either too big or too small or too bright or not quite right for my lifestyle…my nomadic, working life-style – perhaps the bag is a metaphor for my search for my purpose, touched on somethings – had some magic moments and yet, there is a gnawing just below the surface.

I have dabbled here, poured energy there and then sat back trying to design what I want, just like the ‘perfect’ bag I keep looking for and glimpsing…taken a long time to realise that it’s not money or choice stopping me…it’s more to do with not allowing oneself to be free and not comparing oneself to others. I need to be more like the many bag sellers cramped into spaces, I need to sell me and bring out all that makes me, well me…or maybe I should just enjoy the search, never quite belonging…maybe this is what helps me to write…or maybe I am just looking for that bag, the bag of bags….