Being a woman – which I am! I have a strong love of fashion. I don’t think I am particularly stylish but I do adore shopping and its associated end results, even down to the welts that form on your arms and hands after carrying all of the bags through town   – handbag perched on forearm, coffee in hand, collection of purchases gathering on one arm or the other – use the non coffee hand initially. (I will admit that the ensuing empty wallet is not such an attractive side effect.)

Back boobs and muffin tops

Handbags have got to be one of the most satisfying purchases of all time – like shoes and jewelry handbags will always fit. When you are purchasing minimiser bras (to be swiveled and worn on your back in tandem with your cleavage boosting regular bra) to mask the back boobs that have developed, you need something cheer you up. That handbag will still look amazing when your muffin top is in danger of needing a separate seat on the plane.  Your fab shoes will fit when your favourite jeans are a distant memory and have been cut up into dusters.

Almost designer

I recently became the proud owner of what we will call an almost high end designer handbag – 0f the very expensive designer kind! Now is this handbag fake or is it real? Let’s face it, I have used it so surely it must be real – I mean I still have my wallet, my perfume, lip balm back up make up, hair clips, phone hand cream, hand sanitiser, spare stockings (ok,tights!)  and so on and on and on… and if the handbag were not real then surely I would have nowhere to carry all of these things!

The bag in question is actually made of the softest leather and looks without doubt the exact same as the bag it’s supposed to be – yes, I am confused too.

Recently I took the bag on a day out! We went to a very important business meeting where there was quite a large gathering of men and women, predominantly female. One of said females announced rather loudly that she absolutely loved my Pr*&a handbag.  Another female picked up on the word Pr**a and asked - very loudly for the whole room to hear “ PR**a ! “ “IS IT REAL? “ (There is a word for people who behave like that but let’s keep that for another blog). I replied with an incline of the head and a smile and said something like “Come have a look and decide for yourself”. Anyone who knows me well enough may suspect that  I could  actually love a handbag enough to spend what could amount to a substantial mortgage repayment on it if I thought I would get away with it. However there is a part of me that thinks there is something a little vulgar about spending that kind of money on a handbag – especially given the current economic climate and level of poverty and hardship out there. (Unless I had lots of gift vouchers…)

Price of a package holiday

There is also a part of me that feels guilty for owning something that is allegedly “fake” I mean it’s not particularly fair given that someone else has designed the bag and that there is a multibillion dollar corporation thrashing out these handbags to ladies on a daily basis (seriously ladies – how can you pay full price knowing you could go on a package holiday, buy the handbag and have change from the cost of the “real thing”)

Is my bag real?

So, back to my original question – is my bag real? When asked the question “OMG, love your bag, is it real? “ Should I just smile and say – “Well, you are looking at it” and “It is carrying all of my stuff about so I guess it must be a real bag” or should I say, “You won’t believe it I bought it for €buttons, isn’t it just perfect” . I guess the answer will change with the audience. ……. Let us know what you would do !