At 62, I had started holding my handbag like somebody was about to take it
At 62, I had started holding my handbag like somebody was about to take it
Six things the Voresse gets right that my old handbag got wrong, from a woman who is not a fashion writer.
Caroline Richards · Customer · Nottinghamshire · 5 min read Let me be plain about who is talking. I am Caroline, I am 62, I live in Nottinghamshire, and I have never once sat down to write about a handbag. But I know the moment this letter started. It was a busy Saturday in town, and I caught sight of myself in a shop window. My handbag was clamped under my arm, my hand was flat over the top of it, and I was walking like a woman carrying the crown jewels. I had not even noticed I was doing it. I realised I had been doing it for months. So this is not a review. It is a woman who changed her handbag and let go of it, saying so.
What I found is from Nottingham Boutique, a small boutique that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years now. It is called the Voresse, a soft leather-style shoulder bag in a warm caramel, with a zip across the top, zipped pockets on the front and sides, and a strap I can wear across my body. When the boutique later asked if they could put my letter up for others to read, I said yes, on the condition I could be completely honest in it.
A handbag with four zips. At 62. Read on.
Here is how it happens, and I suspect it happens to most of us. The handbags that look nicest are the ones that sit open at the top, or shut with a little magnet, and hang off one shoulder. So the bag slides round behind you where you cannot see it, and the top gapes when you lean over. Then a friend has her purse lifted out of her bag at the market, as mine did last Christmas, and from that day you never quite relax with yours again. You clutch. You check. You keep a hand on it all afternoon.
I was not carrying my handbag any more. I was guarding it, and it was wearing me out.
The Voresse is the first bag I have owned that I can simply wear and forget about, and having carried it every day since it arrived, I can tell you it comes down to six things.
The afternoon it came. A lovely warm caramel, and so soft.
It zips shut, right across the top
No magnet, no open top, no gap. The whole bag closes with a zip, and there is a little tassel on the pull so I can find it without looking. Once it is zipped, it is shut, and I do not have to keep peering in to check.
Zipped up as I set off. That is it done.
I wanted a bag that zips right across the top and this is lovely. I feel much happier in town with it.
Margaret H., BeestonIt goes across me, at the front where I can see it
The strap buckles to whatever length you like, so you can wear it on the shoulder or across the body. I wear it across me, sitting at the front by my hip, where my hand falls on it naturally. It cannot slide round behind me, and I do not have to take it off when I sit down for a cup of tea.
Tea in town. The bag stays on, right there in front of me.
I wear it across me when I go to the market. Both hands free for my shopping and I always know where it is.
Pat D., HucknallA zip pocket on the front for my phone
Across the front there is a curved pocket with its own zip. My phone lives there, so when it rings I can get to it without opening the whole bag in the middle of the street. Then it zips shut again and back goes my hand on top.
Phone in the front pocket. The main bag stays zipped.
Handy pocket on the front for my phone. Took me a day or two to remember which pocket was which, now I would not be without it.
Brenda K., ArnoldZipped pockets on the sides too
There is a zipped pocket on each side as well. I keep my bus pass in one and my tissues in the other, the little things I reach for ten times a day. Everything that comes out often has its own zip, so the main bag hardly ever needs opening at all.
So many zips. Everything has its own place and nothing is loose. Exactly what I was after.
Jean W., CarltonOrganised inside, so I am not rummaging in the street
Inside there are compartments and slip pockets, so my purse, glasses and phone all sit apart. I know exactly where each thing is, which means when I do open it, I open it, take what I need and zip it again. No standing on the pavement with the bag wide open while I hunt.
Lovely and organised inside. My glasses case has its own spot at last.
Sheila M., Long EatonIt looks like a good bag
None of this would matter if it looked like a money belt. It does not. It is a soft leather-style bag with a gentle grain, stitched panels on the front, tassels on the zips, a little silver-tone charm and studs on the base. Mine is the caramel, which goes with my camel coat and my navy one. It also comes in black.
Ready to go out. It goes with every coat I own.
Beautiful colour and soft to touch. I have had two compliments on it already and nobody believes the price.
Christine P., West BridgfordThis, against my old handbag
Most of us have a nice handbag that looks lovely and makes us nervous in a crowd. I know, because I carried one for years. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
A magnet at the top that gaped when I leaned over
Slid round behind me on one shoulder
Everything loose in one big space
Opened wide in the street to find my phone
A hand clamped on it all afternoon
A zip right across the top
Across my body, at the front where I can see it
Compartments and slip pockets inside
Phone in its own zipped pocket on the front
Both hands free, and my mind too
About the price
The Voresse is £29.95 at the moment. It was £60.00.
I will pass on what the boutique told me, which is that with the autumn sale on the caramel is going first, and once this batch has gone it can be a long wait for it to come back. Their words, not mine. What I can tell you from my side is that half price is usually where I start asking what is wrong with a thing, and after weeks of carrying it every day, I have not found it.
And I do not trust perfect scores, so I read the reviews before I ordered the black one for my sister. Just over three hundred of them, sitting at 4.2 stars, which sounded like real women rather than robots, so I read on. The same six things I have just walked you through come up in them, over and over, in other women's words.
If you have caught yourself walking through town with a hand clamped on your handbag, I would start here, and I would start before the Christmas shopping crowds. Not because you need a new bag, but because you deserve to walk round the shops thinking about the shops. Go and have a look while the caramel is still there.
Caroline
VORESSE | Elegant Shoulder Bag
- Soft leather-style faux leather in caramel or black
- Zips shut right across the top
- A zipped front pocket and two zipped side pockets
- Compartments and slip pockets inside
- Buckled strap: wear it on the shoulder or across the body
- Stitched panels, tassel zip pulls and a silver-tone charm
- Free UK delivery and 30 day returns
The autumn sale is on now, half price. The caramel is going first.