Marian Keyes: Why I now believe a small, cross-body bag is your only man.

Red cross-body bag from Aldo.

Sudden Wild Enthusiasms: Small bags.

The ebbing and flowing of fashion is a funny thing. About 10 years ago, a spate of women began showing up at doctors’ surgeries with peculiar back, neck or head pain. In most of the cases, the cause turned out to be the extremely heavy handbags they (we) were lugging around on one shoulder.

The bags at the time tended to be fine hefty ones, made of weighty leather and adorned with mucho metal-work – buckles and whatnot. In addition, the bags themselves were big and the thing is, if you give me something big and empty I’ll fill it, whether it’s a wardrobe, my stomach or – yes – a handbag.

I brought my entire make-up collection everywhere with me simply because I could. Water, snacks, books, they were all fecked into my giant bag with gay abandon. Then I’d hoist the huge big heavy bundle onto my right shoulder and carry it for miles.

By Marian Keyes.

Full story at Irish Times.