VIDEO: Steppin’ Out!
It’s official! After more than a year of restricted movement, the world is slowly opening up. Here on The Rock we look forward, albeit apprehensively, to longer nights and socialising outside of our immediate circle. It’s a metamorphosis that will include embracing those creature comforts once held dear.
The sight of shoes and handbags protected in individual bags once again elicit wide smiles. There’s a reason we’ve not let go of them… Holding on meant living in hope that one day, we’d get through it all… we’d look back and marvel at our resilience.
What is it, though, about the power of shoes and handbags? Why have these accessories withstood recessions, pandemics and yes, wars? Responses shared with the Style Observer (SO) include “Normalcy!” A handbag represents balance. Stepping out, handbag in tow, speaks to a life lived,” shares Marisa, a buyer at a major UK-based retail outlet.
Handbag sales are up, and will, we suspect, continue to increase as our social life returns. But Marisa isn’t the only optimistic retailer. Sean, who sells high-end bags, has, too, seen an increase in sales and is brimming with excitement as his regulars re-engage him to acquire those must-have statement pieces.
The global handbags market is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.5% for the period 2020-2026, this according to www.statista.com/statistics/316526/retail-sales-value-of-women-s-handbags-in-the-us/
We’re not too sure what SO financial guru Lamar Harris would opine about investing in the Birkin, the Chanel Quilted, the Louis Vuitton Alma or the Gucci Quilted, but what we can categorically state is that these are deemed investment pieces.
Britain’s sole female PM, the inimitable Margaret Thatcher, never left 10 Downing Street sans handbag. The Jackie Bag by Gucci pays homage to former US First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis and there is even, in a pandemic, an inordinately long waiting list for the Kelly Bag.
Indeed, one might well deduce that just as construction cranes lend credence to economic recovery, the sight of our women, who have not only kept our economy buoyant and households sane, stepping out in their favourite heels or flats and clutching their handbags send an even stronger message of recovery.
Right, Minister Nigel Clarke?
