"it's vintage"

My mother, noticing that that structured bags with long shoulder straps were all the rage recently, went digging in her closet, and emerged, rather smugly, with this -



"My my, everything I wore in the past is coming back," she said, triumphant.

I'm pretty I'd be just as smug when I have enough years behind to say things like that. ANYWAY. This bag is a gift from my father to my mum, purchased hastily in an airport on one of his business trips in Europe, according to my mother.



It's really quite nicely made, and though parts of it are obviously worn from use, it is in pretty good condition, save for the lining. A trip to the good men at Shukey in Lucky Plaza (they repair stuff like this) fixed that. The body of the bag is made of some kind of stiff fabric (brocade-y?), and holds its shape nicely but it isn't too stiff when you carry it. And while I'm not keen on anything monogrammed or logo-ed, but this is quite tolerable, because it took me a while to notice it.

It's nice to be reminded of a time where purses were small. I'm a rat pack 80% of the time, and then 20% of the time I'm irritated that I don't have a smaller bag for days where all I carry is a mobile phone and cash. This will fill that gap nicely, assuming my sisters and I work out a roster ensuring equitable use. And then if anyone asks where I got the bag, I can say smugly: "It's vintage."