Pursing Like jane
Image Courtesy: Getty Images
As a woman navigating her 20’s, it’s time to retire the aesthetic of the small little bag. You are so adorable and chic, but so inconvenient.
I’m tired of being the woman who thinks all I need is my lip combo and my man's wallet. The girl who needed a tampon in the bathroom wasn't saved by me, but by someone like Jane, rather.
Jane Birkin, you are my inspiration, and you set the reality of how a purse should be handled, used, and worn.
It all started when she was upgraded in her flight, when her wicker basket “bag” that she was known to bring with her everywhere, even the red carpet, fell into the lap of Jean-Louis Dumas himself, the CEO of Hermes in 1983. Next thing you know, a sketch she made on the airplane’s vomit bag would create such an iconic bag: The Birkin.
She needed something in the middle of the ‘Kelly’(a much smaller version of the Birkin) and a suitcase. She said in an interview that she had asked him, “Why don’t you make a bag a little bigger than the Kelly?”
The women for whom the Birkin bag was made might be the only women I have seen use it in the way it was created to be used. She dumps it in front of the Eiffel Tower, showing the raw reality of a woman's purse, iconic, and full of her personality and life.
Because we ladies are not low-maintenance. You just never know what you might need, or even what others need. It's a bag of survival, an intimacy of who we are, because a woman's bag really is her life, and her needs shouldn't be minimized.
I want my hairbrush to fit in my bag. I want to fit a snack, and maybe even a backup snack. A book, because you never know when you need a break from this messed-up world. The girl with four lip glosses, liners, powder, hair ties, and clips. Maybe I can actually fit an umbrella in there too, because I got room like that, and I just don't feel like risking this blowout.
Jane presented her bag in special ways, and not just on the inside. She would hang watches, beads, charms, or anything to make it her own. She said, “When you walk around, they jingle and jangle, so it's a happy sound.”
“Like being on a coach with a horse, in New York.” And you know, I want to fulfill that aesthetic, Ms. Jane.
Phone dead? I got you with a portable charger. I got the big Aquaphor for you because I know the balm just isn't the same. Papercut? I might just have some Neosporin and Band-Aids to get you right. The mother in me wants to have Advil and Tums at arm's length, because you just never know.
Deodorant, perfume, and hand lotion stay close and shouldn't just be applied at home for your 12-hour day. My camera, along with its batteries and adapter are with me, because I am going to get you those digital photos right after we take them.
My micro-purses just can't do it. You look so good, but baby, you just aren't cutting it. It was never about convenience, and adulthood requires more.
One day, I will have a Birkin, but for now, I will admire the way this icon handled and used a purse in general, because to get that bag, I need to be a woman who is prepared and ready for what the day brings.
Strike out,
Kaden Horn
Boca Raton
Kaden Horn is a content writer for Strike Magazine Boca. She is a free-spirited Leo who loves to write all things health, mindfulness, and beauty. A future almond mommy, who hopes to write for the benefit of all and for the peace of her own. You can reach her at kaden.horn813@gmail.com, or her Instagram @kadennhunter
