A bag with a message: an ‘anti-slavery reticule’ produced in 1825 by the Female Society for Birmingham. Photograph: Christine Smith/Victoria & Albert Museum Now we’re going full circle. According to Mintel, a quarter of men aged 16-24 buy manbags. But even if the manbag achieves parity, it is difficult to imagine it will be quite as iconic, as rich in metaphor, as its female equivalent. Will the tension between public and private space, that Savi explores, ever apply to men in quite the same way? Savi is keen that the exhibition embraces bags in all their glory, not just the female handbag. Which is why Churchill’s despatch box is on show, as well as other bags used by men. Baggage began with men, says Savi, and was mainly for the train. “Louis Vuitton started with luxury travel, transferring their leather-making skills from horses to trains and then aeroplanes. Hermès started with saddlery and they still use those techniques in their stitching.” You see, to truly appreciate a handbag, you have to look beyond its surface, challenging though this can be, to what’s inside and how that shapes and defines you. I explain, slowly and patiently, that mine is not just a thing of beauty, but a practical form of transportation, too, for my possessions; my way of navigating the world and getting what matters most to me from A to B.

The crumbling of European empires after WWII didn’t usher in a new era of democracy—instead, we now live in a regime of international corporate rule. Royal approval: Burse for the Great Seal of England, 1558-1603. Photograph: Victoria and Albert Museum Chris Hedges hosts a discussion with the authors of an important book about the corporate coup that shapes our modern world. A handbag can establish boundaries and respect, but the flip side is less savoury. Bancroft recalls seeing the aftermath of a mugging in her local park and the remnants of an emptied handbag on the path. “That’s when you see it as a real violation, an act of violence against a person.”

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