Popular spring purses pack big price tags

Don’t minimize the handbag as nothing more than something a woman uses to carry around her stuff.

New York writer Anna Johnson, who stored crayons in a sequined art-deco evening bag she received at age 5, can tell you that a purse is so much more.

“It is the stuff of dreams, desire and deliverance from the banal. A portable fashion object unperturbed by the changes of the body or the heavy hand of age, the bag is infinitely optimistic,” she contends in her book, “Handbags: The Power of the Purse.”

“We carry it, and it transports us into the lives we wish we were living.”

Born of necessity even before humans could speak, the first handbags were animal skins tied together into little pouches to hold and transport necessities such as flint and food. Since then, the bag has moved beyond form and function to a cultural significance that — along with its contents — reveals something about the woman who carries it.

Most women own and use multiple handbags, depending upon factors as varied as occasion and mood. A woman’s bag is an extension of who she is, suggests cultural critic Winifred Gallagher. And the growing popularity of purses, even as prices continue to escalate, is significant.

“The recent popularity of the pricey purse is yet another indication that transitional objects may be becoming more important in our increasingly materialistic, highly mobile, socially disconnected society,” Gallagher wrote in her book, “It’s in the Bag: What Purses Reveal — and Conceal.”

“The beauty of the American handbag has always been its dance between make-do inventiveness and crazy luxury. Whether ferociously chic or simply cheerful and glib, the bag as indispensable accessory survived in American fashion long after hats and gloves faded away.”

American women no longer wear gloves year ‘round, and hats have gone from fashion necessity to optional accessory. Neither item has remained as ubiquitous and constant as the bag.

Bag trends this spring and summer are richer in look and feel than they have been for a number of years. Saturated colors are a prelude to neons that are coming in the fall; textures such as basketweaves, canvas, patent leather and reptile are abundant; and shapes vary widely from elongated clutches with metallic finishes to large carryalls in light neutrals such as white, cream and tan.

Among all the variety, there’s not really a single purse that has emerged as spring’s It bag. The It bag, a creation of luxury brands, has evolved to where a half-dozen purses can share the distinction in any given season.

Regardless of shape, size, color or material, one thing they share is an exorbitant price.

A decent purse can easily cost less than $100, the kind of spending that fuels the $6 billion-a-year mainstream purse industry. But more and more women appear willing to shell out more than $1,000 for a bag, which helps explain why Louis Vuitton raked in $300 million on a series of colorful monogram bags designed in 2003 by creative director Marc Jacobs and Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami.

But with the United States heading toward recession (or maybe we’re already there) and American consumers spending less, a woman may feel more frugal bypassing Burberry’s white lace macrame dress for $895 in lieu of the brand’s leather-trimmed, red-cotton roll-up tote bag for $350.

Of course, many women will spend much less on a bag to update their wardrobes this season. And the key to smart buying is versatility.

“If you’re going to invest in one piece of your look, make it your handbag,” advises Jen Ely, women’s buyer for eLUXURY.com. “Buy a bag that is neutral enough to go with many different looks, but don’t be afraid to buy a bright-colored bag and mix it into many different outfits.”

Another way to spice up a look is to carry a bag that complements an outfit but is distinctive and doesn’t closely match the clothes and shoes.

“Think about dressing up jeans and a tee with a more attention-grabbing shopper or satchel and by making an evening dress more casual by pairing it with a simple clutch,” says handbag expert Lorae Russo, who is with The Sak/Elliott Lucca. “And remember: Your shoes don’t have to match but should carry the same attitude.”