Style Fix

There’s more to a purse than just picking the perfect look. Once you bring it home from the store, you have to fill it up with all of the essentials. You might be a minimalist: keys, wallet, cell phone. Or perhaps you are the kind who needs everything on hand just in case: makeup, tissues, pen, chapstick, Tylenol, sunglasses, nail file, knife … wait, knife?

That’s right, according to Kelley Styring, author of the fun new book In Your Purse: Archaeology of the American Handbag, 14 percent of the women that she studied carried a weapon in their purse.

“Several of these knives were more of the utility variety (Swiss Army),” Styring says in chapter 9: What’s in the Purse?, “but more often than not, these knives were carried for protection.”

Yikes! Is this what our purses are for?

Well, let’s read on, and see what Styring has to say as she dives into the value of a woman’s handbag: it is useful to market researchers; it is a contradiction - being the center of our life, yet being completely disorganized; it functions to keep us prepared - for ourselves, our family, and even strangers in need; it is a beloved part of us and our history.

In Your Purse may not be what you first expect. You will not open the book to find picture after picture of women’s safekeepings. Though clearly we are interested in this, and it can be seen and analyzed in chapter 9: What’s in the Purse? (and don’t miss the funny finds in chapter 12: I Can’t Believe That’s in my Purse), you have to admit that a whole book of that would be boring.

Instead, Styring puts to use her background in market research, design, and business with companies such as Black & Decker, NASA, Frito-Lay, and Proctor & Gamble (where she studied how people worldwide diaper their babies and take showers), studying purses inside and out. Figuring out why we use them, choose them, trust them, and more.

If even a tiny hint of geek hides behind your Prada and Gucci, you will love this archaeological dig of a book.

If you have ever carried a purse, you will find yourself amazed with how spot on Styring’s discoveries are.

Flip through and catch some fun statistics, or sit down and read about the complete research and study: either way, you are sure to hang on to this coffee table delight for a long time … you may even find yourself toting it around in your purse, ready to share it with anyone that shows interest!

kelley styring, fashion books, in your purse, what do women carry in their purses, archaeology of the american handbag