Indian Handbags: A rich history of Necessity to Vogue!
Lost in the world of Gucci, prada and coco chanel bags, Handbags have been reduced to merely a class statement for many. It, hence, becomes extremely important to dive into the rich cultural history of emergence of handbags in Indian subcontinent and how it paved way from household and individual essential to a fashion accessory.
Today, India is witnessing re-emergence of Potli bags in recent trends, finding mentions in Vedic period book of Ayurveda in ancient history for carrying important herbs and coins. These were generally made using cotton or jute fabrics but with the establishment of Mughal era, velvet and silk began to be used adding aesthetics with its craftsmanship and status to their wearers. In its rendition, potli bags have found wide acceptance in ethnic outfits accesorisation, bringing it back to Vogue due its unescapable allure.
At the same time Indians cannot help but compare these chic tote bags in fashion to our long run culture of using jhola bags for their huge spaces and comfort to carry them around, almost anywhere!
Today these bags may have become a style statement to carriers of political statement for political leaders but they may as well have found their inspiration in the jhola bags that indians have used for time Immemorable to carry loads of their household essentials and commodities with ease, comfort and a subtle charm of their simplicity. From the necessity these bags found their birth and have now become an integral part of our lives.
The trending leather bags today used to carry our personal belongings were once used to carry the most essential element of our lives i.e., the water. Possibility of carrying it to far away places was a task, Hence, the leather was skinned and turned into portable handbags called Mashak.
Famous legend of how it once saved Humayun to Bhai ghaniya ji serving water to thirsty selflessly using mashak take the value of handbags to far bigger and larger impact they’ve served and open our eyes to fact that Handbags are more than just mere fashion statements and that they can be used to bring social change and serve the cause of humanity too.