P2YL | 45. Red Carpet women don't wear shoulder-bags
And what that means for girls like us
Perhaps it was going through the shock of divorce all those years ago that made me want to up the ante in the style-stakes.
I believe a man ultimately falls in love with the essence of who a woman is, but it is her appearance he notices first.
I like making an effort in how I look ⎯ for myself, for my husband, and for other people ⎯ so the aesthetics of being a woman will always interest me.
Seeing how other women put their clothes and appearance together is for me part of the learning-process.
Style-watching on holiday
Holidays are great opportunities for seeing and learning from other women’s personal style as most of us like to dress our best on holiday. It adds to the festive feeling.
This year, on holiday, sitting with my husband over after-dinner drinks in the bar of a classy hotel in the West of Ireland, I was in prime style-watching position.
The Powder Room Derby
A gentle stream of stylish women passed in front of us through the bar on their way to the terrace or ladies’ room.
Sipping my Old Fashioned (I’m a fan of Mad Men) I began to notice one detail over and over again.
By the end of the evening I had decided I wanted to change one of my wardrobe habits.
The Curse of the Shoulder-Bag
In this formal luxury environment most women wore stylish dresses but sometimes their appearance was spoilt by accompanying it with a daytime shoulder bag.
Why shoulder-bags and evening dresses don't always work
Symmetry is part of what the human eye interprets as beauty. Slinging a bag over one of your shoulders bisects your appearance by digging into the shoulder-line, interrupting the flow of a figure-skimming dress and skewing the balance of the whole.
It may also cause you to walk in a less poised way by causing your spine to bend in one direction and your carrying shoulder to fall forwards.
When shoulder-bags are just right
I rate shoulder-bags highly for day-to-day life as I tend to carry a lot of stuff, but I don’t think they function well in an evening ambience.
You never see a woman on the Hollywood red carpet with a shoulder-bag do you?
Google it and see.
Clutch or handbag?
The most elegant women I saw going in and out of dinner that evening carried a handbag or clutch-bag, of a size and shape that wouldn’t interfere with the impact of the overall outfit.
No ‘It’ bags. Smart accessories but not loud, so you focused on the woman not her bag.
My years dating as a divorcée
Going on dates as a new divorcée, I felt I needed a lot of things with me and a handbag or clutch wouldn't be big enough to contain them.
So I ended up packing them all into a sturdy shoulder-bag which probably knocked a few points off my total look.
Style-improv
Meanwhile back in the present-day luxury hotel I realised I had forgotten to pack my posh handbag and didn’t have a clutch-bag.
Then I had an idea.
I improvised a clutch by emptying the sunglasses out of their pouch and popping in the fewest items I have discovered I can get away with on an evening out:
- Tiny hairbrush.
- Housekeys.
- Phone.
- Tissues.
My days of dating ‘preparedness anxiety’
In the past I would have thought it only sensible to carry:
- Lipstick.
- Concealer.
- Blusher.
- Pocket mirror.
- Tissues.
- Hairbrush.
- Mild over-the-counter painkillers.
- Phone.
- Housekeys.
- Collapsible umbrella.
- Cash and cards in case phone technology doesn’t work.
Sometimes I even carried a personal alarm which in all my years I have never had to use. (Take note and take heart.)
Result: one style-tip and one life-tip
Two realisations came out of this holiday:
- A handbag or clutch-bag complements an evening outfit better than a shoulder-bag.
- Leaving behind 50% of the stuff I usually took didn’t affect the quality of the evening one iota.
This is quite a freeing thought. It makes me realise:
Perhaps I had no need to be as anxious as I used to be when going out?
It’s comforting, even now, to remind myself of that simple fact.
And it did turn out well in the end.
🌱🍃🌿
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