Tatiana in touch with her story about the Museum of Bags and Purses in Amsterdam.
I want to share my emotions about visiting the Museum of Bags and Purses in Amsterdam!
This is the largest collection of bags in the world. Since 1996, the founders (by the way, sellers of vintage and antiques) have collected about 3500 exhibits.

The Museum starts with chatelaines of 17 century. This is a special hook with chains, which was used to keep necessary little things: keys, scissors etc. There were embroidered pouches — expensive and valuable. It's a bag with a drawstring. They were used to kept money, or religious objects in them.
Next, we observe how the handbag had been changing along with the woman's lifestyle, new functions and materials. In the middle of 18 century, Marquise de Pompadour introduced bags for sewing into fashion (they're now called a reticule). For holidays, handbags were embroidered with beads and with an elegant clasp.
In 19 century, women became freer. They began to walk and travel on their own. Robust leather handbags appeared. They kept shape and were sturdy and roomy.
With new entertainment, new bags appeared. For example, to go to the Opera, a handbag with sections for the fan and binoculars appeared.
A separate exhibition — women's accessories. Powder with the lipstick, watches. In 1920-30s, they were made by jewellery houses. They were small masterpieces with emeralds, diamonds in art deco style.
A bag is a quintessence of its time. It absorbs all the new inventions and developments. All stylistic features and functions. For example, as soon as lucite was discovered, transparent bags of lucite appeared. Weave chainmail was adjusted — a lot of handbags from chain mail were inroduced. And so on.
The Museum demonstrates this idea perfectly. If you are in Amsterdam, go there for sure!