We choose a handbag for the way it looks on the outside, but the view we see the most of is its innards. The under-the-bonnet view is the one you notice when you’re digging out your keys or having a panicked have-I-lost-my-phone rummage. I just had a peek in mine and – wow, not a pretty sight. Two pen lids (no pens), some tissues of dubious hygiene standards, a satsuma that has picked up an unappetising odour of dog treat.
The inside of your bag is an easy project to ignore because no one else sees it. It is the wardrobe equivalent of that junk drawer full of flyers for window cleaning services and half-used blister packs of Nurofen. The inevitable backdraft of a busy life.
But I am pretty sure that rummaging through your bag like a cartoon squirrel in search of the ticket for a train that leaves in exactly 90 seconds is bad for your mental wellbeing. There is nothing like being made suddenly, painfully conscious of how many plates you are spinning to make one of them come crashing to the floor. An inside-job handbag spruce is good for the soul.
Once you have cleared out the dusty cough sweets, consider whether your essentials – keys, wallet, phone case – are bringing you joy. Just because your bag is in a sensible neutral doesn’t mean your small leather goods can’t be jollier.
“Business on the outside, party on the inside” is the mantra of Luc Goidadin, creative director of Smythson, which is the high church of inside-your-bag small leather delights. Vivid colours for your wallet, diary, phone case and keyring are both practical – easy to spot in bad lighting – and joyful. Dopamine dressing, but without having to worry whether lime green or banana yellow works for your skin colour.
Real luxury has nothing to do with logos, or brands. Real luxury is having properly functional, pleasing versions of the things you touch and use all the time. And most of those are the things you carry around in your bag.
Let’s start with your wallet. Are you still lugging around a hefty wallet from the cash-and-stamps era, with the same three coins rattling around in it for months? The January sales are the perfect time to invest in a good-quality streamlined card wallet. Carrying around baggage that you don’t need is a dead weight, not just on your shoulder, but on your mind.
We are none of us in the business of replacing perfectly good accessories for the sake of it these days, but this stuff does eventually get worn out, so take a minute to rethink instead of reaching for a like-for-like replacement.
Now, what about a phone case? Something to personalise your black mirror makes it feel a bit less bleak to handle all day, I find. I am also a big fan of wrist straps, which make your phone easier to find in your bag and save it getting knocked out of your hand when you walk and type, which I know we’re not supposed to do but also know we all do.
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Anyway, it’s completely untrue that what’s inside your bag is for your eyes only. There are lots of moments in the day when its contents are on display. Your wallet when you buy lunch, and again when you get your swipecard out to re-enter the office. Your phone when you get it out mid-conversation to show a photo/Google something. These bits and pieces are like your watch or your rings or your nail colour – they are a tiny clue to the outside world about you, your tastes, your lifestyle, your vibe.
Last nosy question for you, I promise. Do you actually like your keyring? It does the job, fine, but do you like it? It is the last thing you see before you step out into the world in the morning and the first thing you see when you re-enter your castle. It should put a smile on your face every time. Make mine a seahorse.
Vintage Bottega Veneta shoulder bag and Jacquemus card holder: Selfridges. Seahorse keyring: Mulberry. Diary: Moleskine. Airbrush bronzer compact and lipstick: Charlotte Tilbury
