For as long as people have had precious items and money to carry about their person, bags and purses have played an important role in our daily lives. Accessories like these small bags have been valued for their usefulness. They have also been a relatively cheap and easy way to update fashions and are an indicator of style and taste.The forerunner of the handbag was the 'redicule' adopted in France in the late eighteenth century. Although British women took longer to embrace the idea, they soon came to rely on them and called them their 'indispensables'.The term 'handbag' initially referred to the hand held luggage bags usually carried by men. In the last third of the nineteenth century practical and stylistic elements of the leather travelling bag, such as its metal fastenings and compartmentalised interior, ticket pockets and sturdy handle, inspired the new handbag for women, the precursor of the twentieth century handbag.This bag, from c1860, is made up of a chequered design of plaited ribbon work. Some of the ribbons would have been pinned onto a wooden frame whilst others were woven in and round them to create patterns. Here the ribbon cloth was then lined with silk and sewn into the form of a bag, whilst the top panel has been embroidered with featherstitch.