When songwriters take an interest in girls' bags.
They sang it better than we could ever talk about it.
The least we can say is that the bag is a strong symbol… A fantasy too, perhaps.
Bénabar captures it and discovers treasures:
“I've got it, I succeeded, I'm proceeding with the autopsy
Of this faithful animal that follows her like a little dog
Safe, confidant, partial and sole witness
That she holds close to her back
But which she calls, as if it were nothing, her "handbag"”
Renaud burgles it:
“Looking for the car keys, I rummaged like a scoundrel in your bag
I made a real mess, I turned everything upside down in your bric-a-brac
It's not the most elegant, it looks like a bad plan, a scam
I wanted to know your secrets at the risk of getting a few slaps
(…) Searching ladies' bags is ugly”
Camille raises an existential question:
“What's in girls' bags
What's in men's heads”
Alizée puts all sorts of things in it:
“I put all my promises in my bag
(…) I put all the smiles in my bag
That I was given to encounter
(…) I put this old mirror in my bag
To see my life in reverse
(…) I put all the indifference in my bag
That I was given to encounter”
This is undoubtedly what Miu Miu wanted to illustrate in its SS24 accessories campaign
And what photographer Sarah Benton revealed in the "in her bag" series.
Director Yvon Marciano made it the subject of a short film in 1993: Emilie Muller. 21 minutes. It follows an aspiring actress who is asked by a director to reveal the contents of her handbag. She describes each object with enthusiasm. She uses them as a source of inspiration to talk about herself or to discuss love, seduction and friendship.
Three letters then. Three tiny letters that make the imagination gallop!
