There are many things to consider when it comes to how to choose a purse.
However, these things to consider are based on a whole lot of obvious and underlying reasons and also as a result of what works best for the person in question.
Let’s say you are skeptical about what bag or purse to use for a specific occasion, as convincing as an external person may sound, the purse you would eventually select for your occasion will be based on what you have personally decided within you. This is how it goes.
Table of Contents
WHAT SHOULD I LOOK OUT FOR WHEN BUYING A PURSE?
Nobody enjoys waste especially when it comes to money. You mustn’t buy all the purses in the shopping mall before you know what works for you.
There are 5 basic qualities we recommend you pay attention to before you buy a purse. They are durability, versatility, color, grandeur, and size.
Durability:
Not all purses are long-lasting due to a number of reasons. The most relevant of which is due to the material used in producing the purse.
There are purses made of paper materials and when soaked in snow or rain can tear or even lose their initial shape. Such purses should not be used as everyday-use purses.
It’s always better to have a second option. Durable materials include waterproof, cotton, Nylon, leather, wool, and polyester.
Versatility:
Do not get a purse just because it is beautiful and scream out for you to buy her.
Also, look out for how versatile that purse can be. This has happened to me a lot of times, I will buy a purse today and after I’ve used it once, I will see that I can’t use it again unless I am wearing that particular outfit I first used it with.
You might start asking, how then can one know that a purse is versatile?
Well, the design will determine if a purse is versatile or not. If your purse design has a tortoise shape or the head of a tiger drawn boldly on it, for instance, you may find it difficult to use it on so many other outfits.
Size:
The size of the purse in question matters a lot if you are at the shopping mall and torn between two options.
First, scan your closet with your mind’s eye and figure out if you will be needing a purse as small or as big as the one in question.
If your mind screams yes, yes, then go for it. But if your mind is still uncertain, then think of the items you normally carry out on a daily basis and ask yourself if the purse in question can contain those items.
If they can, then go for it, but if they can’t then you have no other choice than to choose a size that best meets your needs.
Grandeur:
Let’s deviate a little from function and talk of style. Everybody loves beautiful things.
Even purses are happy when they are beautiful. It’s important to look out for purses that are beautiful even while meeting the other requirements I have earlier mentioned.
If a purse is sizable, durable, versatile, and at the same time beautiful and exquisite looking, then please you need no other conviction to go for it!
Color:
Your purse color should be a major reason why you should buy it or wear it out.
Versatility and color go hand in hand in the sense that versatile colors are the best colors to look out for when choosing a purse.
You can’t be filling your wardrobe with different odd colors that are not a good match with at least 70 percent of your outfits.
HOW TO CHOOSE A PURSE
Outfit, size, and color are the major things to consider when choosing or deciding on a purse to carry for an occasion or when deciding on the purse to buy for your use.
This is because these three things play a crucial role in giving you your desired look and maximum satisfaction.
While the outfit and purse color help to point out how you are going to look after your dress up, the size of the purse will help indicate if it can contain the items you will be carrying along to your outing.
HOW TO FIND A PURSE
How can you find a purse?
Step 1: Define the occasion. Understand what you need the purse for or how many purse do you actually need to have.
Step 2: Get the dress. Search your closet to get an outfit that befits the occasion.
Step 3: Itemize your requirements. Make a list of what you want in a purse. It could be the size, color, shape, brand
Step 4: Check your available options and eliminate the purses that don’t match. There is every tendency that you will have more than two to three purses in your list of options. Not all of them will meet your desired requirements.
Using the elimination method, remove the options that are a no-no, it could be because of size, the purses too small to accommodate the items you will be needing for the occasion can be removed.
The colors that don’t match your outfit can be removed, and the designs that are inappropriate can be removed as well.
You can continue till you get to that purse that nearly matches most of your requirements and is one that you feel comfortable carrying. That’s your purse, go for it.
HOW DO I CHOOSE THE RIGHT BAG FOR ME?
There is no prototype bag that has been kept specifically for you. Rather you are the one who would create your own prototype bag.
How can this be done? Define who you are or who you want to be.
How can I define myself?
You can define yourself by making a mental or physical list of your habits, the kind of clothes you feel more comfortable wearing, and the places you love to visit.
The type of friends you hang out with, the type of job you do, and your general likes and dislikes.
The purpose of the above is to help you understand yourself better. Understanding yourself better will give you a clearer view of who you are and the areas where you need to put more effort.
See this illustration below;
Paula is 23. She works for an advertising agency in Lisbon. Her hobbies include playing the guitar, skydiving, and traveling.
Her dislikes are fishing and reading. She loves people with a tough demeanor and she believes that life is fair to those who are brave to embrace the ups and the downs. You will never see her in skirts and heels.
Now the above is Paula’s identity. She knows enough to know that shoulder bags may not be the best match for her routine outfits except for very few occasions where she might need to use them, but on every other day, she will go for fanny packs, crossbody bags, backpacks, or sling bags.
Paula will be silly to fill her wardrobe with shoulder bags or fancy purses when she is fully aware that she may never use them.
HOW DO I CHOOSE A PURSE SIZE?
You can choose a purse size by first stating what you need the purse for and itemizing what you will be putting inside the purse.
If you need a purse just because you feel you should carry a purse each time you’ve dressed up, then any size of the purse can go provided it matches what you intend to wear.
But in most cases, people who buy purses, because they don’t want to feel bare after they’ve dressed up, will go for small-sized purses.
On the other hand, if you need a purse because you will need to carry some basic items out with you and you don’t want to put them inside courier bags, then the size of the purse in question becomes a major concern.
If the items you want to carry out are many then go for a bigger-sized purse. But if they are not so much, a medium-sized purse can suffice.
WHAT IS THE MOST POPULAR TYPE OF PURSE?
The most popular type of purse is the clutch. Most times when people use the word purse, what they are referring to is the clutch, this is because they for some reason think that a purse and a clutch mean the same thing.
Very few people understand that there are several other types of purses and that handbags can actually be referred to as purses.
Some of these other types of purses are;
- String bags.
- Envelope bags, some can come with handles while others are held like files.
HANDBAG SIZES CHART
| SIZE | HEIGHT (CM) | Wearer’s BMI |
| Extra small | 23cm | Petite |
| Small | 26cm | Average height and slim |
| Medium | 29cm | Not too fat and not too tall |
| Large | 33cm | Huge looking |
HOW TO CHOOSE A HANDBAG SIZE?
How to choose a handbag size is pretty simple. List out the items that should go in the bag and look for bags big enough to accommodate all the items you’ve listed out.
You can make this more practical by arranging the items one after the other on your dressing table or on your bed.
Visualizing these items will help you see what you are taking out and the best size of bag to use.
Let’s say you are going to school, arrange all your textbooks on the table, together with your laptop and other gadgets down to your hair brush.
Then, bring down your favorite school bags and see which one can accommodate everything you’ve arranged on the table.
You might end up leaving your favorite bag to go for a bigger backpack instead because you need all those items to be contained in a single bag.
WHAT’S IN MY HANDBAG
Here is a list of some items you can put in your handbags.
- Keys
- ATM cards and ID cards, your driver’s license, your passports
- Cash
- Cellphone
- Lipgloss
- Face wipe or handkerchief
- Portable perfumes
- Mirror
- Hairbrush
- Sanitary items for emergency cases.
HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT BAG?
There are a lot of determinants to consider when you want to choose the right bag. I have listed and explained the most important below:
Age:
There are specific bags designed by manufacturers for specific ages. A 25-year-old woman cannot be seen carrying a Hannah Montana bag or a Frozen bag.
People around will generally assume that something is either wrong with her or that she is probably holding the bag for her 10-year-old daughter or younger sister.
Gender:
I had a friend who refused to accept what the scan results said about her pregnancy.
She was carrying a baby boy but because she really craved to have a baby girl as her first child, she went on to do her childbirth shopping for a baby girl and this included the bags she bought with which she would carry her baby stuff.
When the baby was born, the scan results didn’t lie. Now that she had already bought things for a girl for him, do you think those things were right for the baby?
It’s just like a 2-year-old girl carrying a green hawk bag. Even though there are some girl children that love male cartoon characters, gender still plays a major role in deciding what to get and what not to get for them.
Size:
Do not get bags that are too big for you or too small for you.
Go for bags that their sizes match your size and what you need them for. If you want to get a school bag, check for bags big enough to contain your school books and other gadgets.
Function:
There are different bags for different purposes. We all know that satchel bags are school bags. Same way, clutches or pouches are outing bags. Be sure to have the function of a particular bag at the back of your mind each time you want to choose a bag.
Personality:
Your character will determine what type of bag to use. Females with macho personalities will look very awkward in very feminine-looking bags.
Even some guys will feel very comfortable carrying feminine bags and so on. Hence, your personality will determine the right bag for you.
The right bag for you may be the wrong bag for me and the wrong bag for me can be the right bag for you.
There is almost a zero possibility that the wrong bag for me will be the wrong bag for you.
In other words, choice plays a very crucial part in determining which bag is right for one.
Apart from general cases where everybody knows that a particular bag in question is not good for anyone, probably because it’s very worn out and should be trashed.
I don’t think there are any other cases where choice does not come in when it comes to what you see as the right bag for you.
PURSE BIG ENOUGH FOR BOOKS
Purses come in varying sizes. There are some purses that are very portable with short handles and without handles while there are purses that are quite big with chain straps.
I personally don’t feel purses should be used to carry books but I believe there are those who would rather use purses than satchel bags for books.
Now the question is are there purses big enough to carry books?
Yes, there certainly are purses big enough to carry books but these purses may not be comfortable enough when used for the carrying of school books and other heavy items, especially if they have thin chain straps.
I consider handbags and other bag types like satchel bags as purses big enough to carry books.
HOW TO MATCH A HANDBAG WITH AN OUTFIT?
Color: Handbags with complementary colors to your outfit should be the first set of bags to select before talking about other minor criteria like design and occasion.
Dressed in all green with a green bag simply because you like the design and you feel it best matches the occasion is not a good enough reason.
Design:
The bag design that goes hand in hand with your outfit is one that you should most likely select.
If you’re dressed in casuals, you can select a matching casual-looking handbag unless you want to add some spice to your casual look, then you can go for a more sophisticated bag design or even a corporate-looking bag.
Occasion:
The occasion matters a lot in your choice of bag. If you are dressed for a wedding, you should be seen carrying a handbag that also matches the occasion.
I’ve not seen people who would carry backpacks on a bridal gown, except in the movies.
CONCLUSION
Different people make different choices on which bag type is the most suitable for them and these different choices are the reasons why different bag brands produce assorted bag designs and sizes.
If you are ever uncertain about the bag type most suitable for you, do a personality test on yourself. You could even get friends to say stuff about you.
This personality test will help define who are and what is more suitable for you.