A handy Hand Bag Guide for Indian Women

Last Updated on 6 years by Naveen Kumar

Time to look for a new handbag? How to choose that perfect handbag for women?

A handbag is most often considered a good investment. Unlike, clothes and statement accessories, handbags can be re-worn and styled in so many different ways to suit your everyday fashion. In fact, its advised you choose a versatile one of a good quality. Remember, its best to opt for high quality when it comes to shoes and handbags since you would be using them almost everyday and is quite the most noticeable ones.

How to choose a handbag?

A handbag is like woman’s armor, where she carries her most essential items, from keys and wallet to make up and medicines. You would hardly find a woman walking empty handed, without at the least a coin purse. And thus, it is no big surprise that such an everyday accessory has so much of importance in a woman’s life and closet and has become one of the best ways to express a style statement. That more or less explains why you it is essential to exercise care when choosing the right handbag.

Here we are with a very comprehensive guide on certain factors that you should bear in mind when choosing a handbag for women.

Body Type

Many at times, we may not realize that handbags should be chosen according to your body type. Choosing the appropriate one can flatter your body type and transform the whole look. Ideally, it should be chosen as below:

Tall & Thin Body Type: Best to choose short and wider bags like hobos. Also, clutches are a good idea as well.

Petite: Choose medium sized bags and avoid large or over sized bags as well as ones with long straps. Bags with long straps tend to make you look even shorter. Sling bags are a good choice.

Chubby or Curvy: Avoid wearing tiny as well as round bags like hobos and opt for medium to large bags. Structured or boxy bags are good choice for women on the heavier side.

Purpose/Function

Are you looking for a hand bag to carry to office, for casual purpose, for an evening party or an all rounder? With a huge variety of styles in bags today, the purpose of the hand bag to a great extent, determines the kind of hand bag you choose. For example, totes are an ideal choice for office so are structured bags, similarly, sling bags or cross body bags for casual purposes etc.

Style

There are so many different types and styles in handbags today, ranging from totes and hobos to satchels and cross body bags. And most of these hand bag types are associated to the different purposes like totes are ideal for formal and professional purposes, cross body and shoulder bags for casual purposes etc.

Color

Color is another very key factor to keep in mind when choosing hand bags. The purpose does dictate the colors you should choose for your bags. Imagine picking a bright pink to take to work. When choosing a professional style handbag, ideally pick neutral shades like beige, brown, grey, black, navy. Nude shades are extremely versatile and will suit all outfits and personalities. Bright shades, florals and neons can be a good choice for slings and cross-body bags, metallic shades for evening bags.

Price

Another important factor when picking bags are the budget. If you have a flexible or lavish budget, you can invest in a good brand or high quality leather bag. If the budget is on a low to mid range, opt for a decent quality material of leather or PVC or similar materials. Ideally, stay away from cheap and low quality hand bags.

Quality

Quality is another important aspect to be considered when shopping for handbags. There might be huge varieties of fancy bags made of low quality materials (from exterior to interior material, zipper, straps), but they might not be durable. Usually the cheaper and fancier, the less durable and low quality they would be. If you are looking for a leather bag, either invest in a good quality leather handbag in dark shades or if you are looking for a slightly cheaper option, decent quality leather bag in a mid price range would serve the purpose. Ideally, pick hand bags that are easy to care for and maintain.

Material

The material of the bag is another crucial factor and the price of the bag depends hugely on this. Usually leather hand bags are considered a good investment since they tend to be highly durable. Similarly, decent quality of artificial leather, cloth fabric

Strap

Usually, different styles have different types of straps, from long and short to thin and thick ones. Most often, bags now come with dual handles, a short one (hand held) as well as a long one. Depending on the purpose and style, you can choose the strap style and length that fits you well. Ideally, stay away from extremely thin straps.

Compartments

It’s always best to choose a handbag that has one or two main compartments and 2 or 3 inner pockets at the most. The more the number of pockets, the cheaper it tends to look and most importantly, it tends to be confusing, making it difficult to figure out where you kept something.

Other Details

Apart from the above, there are several other factors like zipper, the stitching, lining quality, the brands etc that becomes a deciding factor when picking handbags.

Some tips to keep in mind:

• Avoid bags that have too many pockets or compartments.
• Avoid bags that are very heavy.
• Avoid bags that have extremely thin and narrow straps.
• Ideally, avoid hand bags that are made of low quality fabrics. Extreme care should be exercised when checking the zipper quality, interiors of the bag like the lining, the inner compartments etc.