Handbag museums

Who doesn’t like to travel? And who doesn’t like a chance to browse handbags?  Well, probably quite a few people, but if you, like me, are a fan of both travel and bags, you're bound to find something to thrill you in today’s blog post. There are actually three handbag museums in the world, and we’ve put together a short guide to them all.

So starting with those purses, which is what our American friends call handbags, and which often causes confusion in the world of handbag fans, the ESSE Purse Museum in Little Rock Arizona is a tiny but perfectly formed venture. One of their permanent exhibitions, showing 20th century American women through the bags they carried, is an amazing photo-history of a nation and a century, as well as being a wonderful tour of bags through a hundred years. It is a small museum, so give yourself a couple of hours, then another half hour for the very well-stocked gift shop, and remember they aren’t open on Mondays. Entry fee $10 and no coffee shop but there are plenty of nice places to eat nearby. One of the nice things about the ESSE Purse Museum is you can photograph yourself with your bag and send the picture to them to add to their archive which makes us into a party of the living history of handbags. 

Simone Handbag Museum

The first thing to say about the Simone Handbag Museum on Garosugil in Gangnam, Korea, is that it’s shaped like a handbag! Founded by Kenny Park, a Korean supplier of handbags for designer labels it features, somewhat 

surprisingly, only European handbags.  Displays include a history of bags from the 1820s to the modern day, and another room featuring the most modern examples of European design. It’s an amazing display, where each bag-carrying mannequin has been built by hand to give the best exposure to the bag itself. There’s a café, gift shop and bag shop, as well as an amazing area for customers to try making their own bags and a shop that sells unique leathers to customers who wish to have bags made. The curated exhibitions are of incredibly high quality, and the workshop areas are fun, so this is definitely one that needs most of a day to visit. Some of the information is in Korean only, but many of the staff speak great English and will help you decipher the detail that makes this museum so special. Simone Handbag Museum, 17 Dosan-Daero 13 Gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea

The pre-eminent world class museum for handbag enthusiasts is the Tassenmuseum Hendrikje in Amsterdam. It has more than 4000 items, dating back to the 16th century, and it all began back in the 1980s when Hendrikje Ivo bought a small tortoiseshell back that was dated back to 1820. It started a passion in her which her husband Heinz soon came to share - together they collected over 3000 bags before opening a museum in their own home in 1996. Since 2007 that museum has been moved to a townhouse in central Amsterdam and a thousand more bags have been added to the collection. A small entrance fee of around 10 Euros earns you a thorough grounding in the history of handbags. There’s a great tea rooms too, which, if you book in advance, allows you to have a special bag themed ‘fashion’ tea! Herengracht 573, 1017 CD Amsterdam, Netherlands

By Kay Sexton

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Four ways to style your little balck dress

We’ve all got a little black dress, and we all love to wear it, because classics become classics for a reason. The LBD is sophisticated yet simple, flattering yet unpretentious. There’s just one thing wrong … it can become boring! Not for anybody else, but for us, the wearer of the dress - sometimes we sigh when we look at our LBD and that’s the time to try a fresh new look without breaking the bank.

Bag your LBD

We love this idea - the right bag completely changes the look of a little black dress. For summer, try pairing your dress with a large raffia clutch and a broad brimmed straw hat. Rope heeled espadrilles complete this casual but elegant look. For a statement of style try court-heeled shoes, a patent leather shoulder bag and gloves - an air of almost regal elegance will result.

Waist not want not

A belt is the simplest and sometimes the most effective way to reprise your LBD. The options are endless: a wide cummerbund style belt with a string of pearls is effortlessly classic evening wear; a sash of tribal material or animal print, teamed with boots and a suede jacket gives you a striking outfit for a day’s shopping, while a gilt belt with metallic stilettos and a statement necklace will change your office little black dress into something seductive for cocktails after work.

Jacket juggle

Nothing alters the look of an LBD more than a jacket. A cream velvet or fun-fur cape around the shoulders creates an Audrey Hepburn look - svelte but not sexy. A black leather bomber jacket and killer heels is exactly the opposite - sophistication with a grown-up edginess. You can even throw a hoodie over your little black dress and pull on some Converse trainers … it really works!

Hermes scarf trick

Summer Breeze Tote Bag

Bride de Cour Canard, Hermes

Above all though, we love the Hermes scarf trick. From the moment we saw this on How to Wear a Hermes Scarf, we were on a quest to find the ideal Hermes scarf for each of our bags and while we won’t bore you with every permutation we came up with, we do think we have an outright winner. Summer Breeze is one of our best selling bags, and we think it is perfectly complemented by the  Bride de Cour Canard scarf in yellow. The clever way that tying the scarf to the neckline of the dress completely alters the appearance of this classic garment is nothing short of astonishing, and the way the scarf and bag enhance each other is lovely. Our LBD will never bore us again!

Blue Button Bags and Fashion Revolution - a responsible way to buy designer bags

Two years ago this month, the eight-storey Rana Plaza factory building near Dhaka collapsed. The building was full of garment shops, making clothes for companies around the world and 1,130 garment workers were killed, crushed under the rubble. More than 2,500 individuals, mainly women, were rescued, but suffered appalling injuries. 

It’s not exactly the subject material for a website selling bags is it? But the story is one that underpins everything we do at Blue Button Bags. We’re proud to be part of Fashion Revolution which aims to change the way we shop, wear and think about clothes and fashion.

Fashion Revolution asks you to share a photo of your garment label tagged with #whomadeyourclothes

Blue Button Bags designs and makes its stunning bags in the UK. This means that we pay more - more for fabric, more for manufacture, more for the welfare and wellbeing of those who cut and sew and finish our glamorous bags, accessories and scarves. And we think it’s worth it. Like Vivienne Westwood we say “Buy less, choose it well, make it last” not just because we want to sell you our lovely bags and accessories but because we believe that paying a good price for a well made, long lasting, high quality product is better for you, better for the planet and better for the people who make our exclusive Blue Button Bags line.

The big picture is really serious; the price of almost everything in the world rose rapidly in the past century - except for clothing. In 1900 the average American household spent 15% of income on clothing. By 2004 that figure had dropped to just 4%. As we pay less and less for clothing and accessories, we own more and more of them. An average British woman in 1997 purchased 19 items of clothing a year, by 2007 she was buying 34 items. More clothes purchased for less money means just one thing - at some point in the production chain, somebody is getting less money than they used to. In many cases this is the manufacturer, and that’s why garment workers are paid a pittance, work long hours and are forced to labour in poor conditions. 

Blue Button Bags - great bags at a great price

So we’re not the cheapest, but we think our bags are worth every penny because:

• We make classic items that look great season after season - they are an investment, not an indulgence
• Our bags and accessories are superb quality - made to last, they deliver on quality and performance
• The people who make Blue Button Bag items are well paid, so the products are well made, which means your experience of those products will be satisfying and fun.
• And it’s not just us saying this:

• Young mothers find our organisers are ‘must have’ items, allowing them to have a trouble-free day, with their little ones every day
• Make-up artists and hairdressers love the organiser inserts too - using them to support hectic careers and always look good in the spotlight
• Our tote bags are popular with holiday-makers and travellers in general - we’ve even seen one at a wedding, where the bride’s retro floral dress was perfectly complemented by Blue Button’s gorgeous tote.

So we’re glad to be a part of the Fashion Revolution and we’ll be tweeting on 24 April, so if you want to let us know where our bags, scarves and accessories are, and how you use them, we’d be delighted to hear from you

By Kay Sexton

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The Story Behind the Design: Yellow and White Roses

At Blue Button Bags it is extremely important to us that we use designs which have a meaning and that are a reflection of our own memories and ideas, and therefore it is also important to us to share this inspiration with our customers to provide them with a bit more insight into what we do and why we do it.  This week we’ve decided to share the inspiration behind the yellow and white roses which feature heavily as part of our original collection as well as give you some tips on the best looks to pair our outfits with.

Yellow and White Roses

We didn’t just choose yellow and white roses for their beauty, there is some meaning there too.  Those of you who are familiar with Hampshire will know that these are the Hampshire Roses which reflects the county where our founder Subhashini, is from.  Many Hampshire based businesses had expressed their desire to use the Hampshire rose as its logo, but were rejected because of copyright breaches.  Instead, companies have opted to create their own rose design and now we can see several variations of the same theme at work all over Hampshire, from the single red rose to the double red rose, and even the Tudor Rose, representing our county’s emblem.

As for the colours – yellow roses symbolise new beginnings, and any new business venture is a new beginning.  White on the other hand is fresh and pure, and is reflective of the gorgeous thatched cottages that Hampshire is known for, as well as of course being symbolic of a traditional English country garden.

It is important to us that our designs are meaningful and feature real-life inspiration.  We only make a limited number of items to keep them truly unique, giving you quality assurance and original items that will become a part of your signature style.

Styling Our Products

The Oasis Scarf

Our Oasis Scarf is versatile and lightweight, making it the perfect accessory to your outfit.  Whether worn to work over a crisp white blouse or worn as a cover up on the beach, you will find plenty of great uses for this luxurious scarf.

Oasis Kenshani Tote Bag

Our tote bags are capable of fitting a lot of things in them, making them great for a woman on the go.  Our dream Saturday outfit for running errands or lunch with the girls would feature a midi skirt in a nautical shade of either red, white or navy; a cool t-shirt or blouse and of course, the Oasis tote.  A great way to brighten up any outfit, the Oasis is a must-have for your wardrobe.

We welcome our customers to ask us questions about our products.  We love to share our thoughts and ideas with you and aim to provide as much information as we can about our products.  Keep an eye out for some great new products coming soon and take a look at our current collection available now by clicking here.

By Sian Pitman

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Get 2015 Off to a More Organised Start With a Blue Button Bags Organiser

Whether it was your New Year’s Resolution or not, taking steps to be more organised can truly improve both your work and personal life – making sure that you have everything you need and being able to find it easily.  A handbag organiser is one of the best ways to do this, allowing you to have everything you need in one place and move it according to whatever bag you use that day.  No longer will you have to worry about fishing out your essential products and moving them from bag to bag – a bag organiser will easily do the job.  

Blue Button Bags have some great handmade handbag organisers in stock, and we take a look at them in more detail below.

What is a handbag organiser?

Essentially a handbag organiser is a portable storage system for your handbag, allowing you to organise your typical handbag items (phone, keys, makeup, diary, purse, etc) into allocated departments to make them easier to find.  The aim is to eliminate that frustration of scrambling around for your keys and to enable you to move items between your various handbags easier by just having one inset to move.

What are the benefits of a handbag organiser?

Almost too many to name!  A handbag organiser will allow you to keep all of your things in order, making sure that you can find what you’re looking for as well as help to eliminate spills and damage that can be caused by products knocking in to each other (keys and phones for example!). Handbag organisers make the process of changing bags much simpler too so if you usually restrict yourself to using the same handbag day after day because of the inconvenience, this will open you up to many more fashion possibilities by being able to easily change your handbag according to your outfit. 

About Blue Button Bags Organisers

Like our range of handmade designer bags, our Blue Button Bags Organisers are all handmade in the UK using locally sourced materials.  Featuring multiple pockets as well as roomy inner compartments, they are the perfect complement to any of our handbags from the collection as well as your other handbags.  We pride ourselves on designing unique, handmade products made in the UK which feature beautiful designs inspired by our personal memories and experiences.

We currently have two great Blue Button Bags organisers in our collection – The Toni Organiser Oasis and the Toni Organiser Summer Breeze which look great with our fantastic handmade bags.  Made in Hampshire, these organisers are the perfect accessory for you or for a friend as a gift, with more great designs on the way.  To view our collection of handmade handbag organisers in more detail, please click here and say hello to a more organised new you for 2015.

By Sian Pitman


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More About.....Our Values and Ethics at Blue Button Bags

At Blue Button Bags, we incorporate a strict set of ethics and values which go into making our products, helping both the finished item and the ideas behind them, be beautiful, inspired and unique.  We wanted to share with our customers a bit more about our values in order to provide you with more information about us and to learn more about what and why we do what we do.  Read on to find out more about our incredible journey.

About Us 

Blue Button Bags was founded in 2013, born in beautiful Hampshire in the UK.  The idea for the company came from founder and designer Subhashini who wanted to create ‘an ethical, yet exclusive range of bags and fashion pieces that are created locally and ethically.’  With a desire to create beautiful pieces which are not only fashionable, coveted and well-made but are also born from sound ethics, Blue Button Bags is a strong, British company making waves in the fashion industry.

Our Ethics

We believe that products should be beautiful and unique, as well as being handcrafted to ensure quality.  Rather than being swayed by the profits which can stem from mass production, our independent, thriving company instead focuses on ensuring that each product is designed with love and care.  All of our products are created in the UK, which not only helps us support the economy and local suppliers, but also ensures ethical production and reducing our carbon footprint to help the environment.

Supporting ‘Made in Britain’ Initiatives

Whilst the UK economy has suffered in recent years, at Blue Button Bags we are one of the many companies in the UK who are committed to supporting British trade by ensuring that all of our products are designed and manufactured in the UK, using high quality, locally sourced materials which allow us to support other businesses who in turn support us as well.  Our team live locally to Hampshire and every part of the business is operated in the UK, using British companies and suppliers from our printers down to our website builders.  We believe in the importance of supporting British trade and hope to lead others by our example.

Our Products

We design a wide range of products which include bags, scarves as well handbag organisers and other accessories.  Each product is carefully designed using beautiful patterns and fabrics to provide designer, luxury items to suit a range of tastes and fashions.  Our product ranges are inspired by a number of influences including the beautiful British countryside, holiday memories, nature and anything else which can be turned into a beautiful, creative idea for a product.

At Blue Button Bags, we believe it is important for our customers to understand our values in order to understand us better.  If you have any questions at all about our business, we welcome you to get in touch by clicking here. You can see the latest range of fantastic designer handbags by clicking here to be taken to the storefront.

Guest Blogger  Sian Pitman

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Bags and Purses collection, Hampshire Museums Service

Bags and Purses collection, Hampshire Museums Service

I found this article very interesting.