In my clutches.

Let us consider the clutch, that small (usually) handheld (hence the name) necessaries-only handbag. I don't have many clutches, as I'm a backpack/shoulder bag girl, but I do have a few, and I use them to varying purpose.

For example, consider the Louis Vuitton pochette:

Plain, simple, clips to the ring inside of the LV Speedy, and frequently carried as an everyday clutch by folk who can only afford a little bit of Vuitton. I use mine as an incidentals pouch--pen, sticky notes, bibs and bobs--inside whatever larger bag I'm carrying. I will, in a pinch, dump it inside the bag and use it alone, but I've only done that once or twice.

I also have one of these gorgeous but determinedly utilitarian tool bags, that makes a wonderful clutch and occasional conversation piece:

It's about the size of a standard folded sheet of paper, a touch higher and longer, and I generally use it for papers and my Little Red Book of Everything Worth Writing Down. There's alo a larger version that can carry papers unfolded. From Klein Tools. I can't help but love a bag I have to order as a part number.


The first handbag I ever clearly remember owning was a small red pebbled leather clutch with a tiny short chain as a strap. I was allowed to buy it at a Goodwill store when I was five or six, largely because I refused to put it down, and I loved that little purse with all my heart. I still remember the inside of it, the smell of it, the way the clasp *snicked* just so as it closed. That's what started the bag obsession--it all comes down to The Little Red Purse. I don't have it anymore, as it was lost in a fire, and I've never found another, although I've been looking for decades. It looked something, but not quite, like this:

From Etsy shop From Lost to Found.

So I started with a clutch, usually holding a comb, hairpins, some coins, a pencil, and a Liddle Kiddle in a bunny suit, to a huge bag with my entire life in it. But I so long to be able to just carry a few essentials--lip balm, keys, a pen, debit card, and let the rest of the world take care of itself.

Have some clutchy eye candy.

From Uncovet.

From Dione von Furstenberg.

From Judith Leiber.

From Uncovet.