An exploration of the role of the handbag in the history of culture, fashion, and material production

This book features specially commissioned photographs of an extraordinary, newly formed collection of fashionable handbags that date from the 16th century to the present day. It has been acquired for exhibition in the first museum devoted to the handbag, in Seoul, South Korea. The project is a commission undertaken by experimental exhibition-maker Judith Clark, and essays investigate the psychoanalysis of bags and the museum's state-of-the-art mannequins and archive cabinets.