Carrying a Very Small Shoulder Bag is remarkably different to carrying something the proportions of, say, an Hermès Birkin, and at first the transition may startle you; it is, after all, the handbag equivalent of carrying a teacup Chihuahua after months of lugging around a Great Dane. For this, your shoulders will undoubtedly thank you — though you may find you need to do a few more bicep curls each morning to make up for the sudden reduction in your handbag weightlifting routine.
... the handbag equivalent of
a teacup chihuahua...
The downside is that these bags are, as the name suggests, very small, and therefore you will need to find a new ruthless streak within your soul. Very Small Shoulder Bags — such as the exquisite little Lanvin ‘Happy Mini Pop’ in fuchsia, orange or green — do not accommodate a tremendous amount, so you will have to assess whether you truly need to take your gardening gloves and that copy of Proust to Mahiki this evening. Still, once you have acquainted yourself with the new weight and minimalism, you will find that carrying the VSSB is actually rather fun.
You may recall that in the giddy days of the 1980s, the small shoulder bag of choice was the Chanel ‘2.55’ (a style first designed by Coco Chanel in 1955, but rethought by Karl Lagerfeld when he took over the label). This season, all VSSBs should be carried in the distinctive 1980s 2.55 manner: the strap slightly dimpling your shoulder pad while the bulk of the bag itself swings merrily about your hip. The merriness is crucial; the veritable raison d’être of the VSSB is to bring a sweet little girlish merriment to one’s ensemble. After all, who could not wear a bag so dinkily named as Chloe’s ‘Sally’ or Christian Louboutin’s ‘Sweet Charity’, and not feel somehow brighter and gigglier and more coquettish?
And this is how you must wear the VSSB: as if you are a bearer of great joy. Do not so much walk into a room with your Trussardi ‘Fringe Chain’ bag, no no — leave mere walking to the heavy-bag brigade! Rather, you must prance into a room! You must shimmer! You must encourage your delightful little bag to twirl about on its pretty little chain! You must carry a Dolce & Gabbana ‘Miss Charles’ with a sashay and a flounce, with the knowledge that you and your VSSB are lighting up the room.
Laura Barton is a feature writer for The Guardian.
She also writes for Q, The Word, Vogue and Red
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