Power of Purse! Expensive designer bags are conveyers of status

There’s a lot more to a handbag than just carrying things, as women use high-end handbags and other expensive accessories to signal other women not just their higher ranks but to steer clear from their me, claim several researchers.

Wednesday Martin’s book ‘Primates of Park Avenue’ has definitely portrayed the image of the obscenely wealthy wives of Manhattan’s rarified Upper East Side very well as they are best in flaunting tres expensive Hermes Birkin bags to impress the women in their neighborhood.

The research conducted by Vladas Griskevicius and Yajin Wang asked women to draw luxury-brand logos on purses and as a result some women drew larger logos to make other women feel jealous, Slate.com reported.
In New York a slowdown in sales at pricey Michael Kors and Coach purses have been observed combined with massive discounting of name-brand bags at department stores like Nordstrom.

According to the NPD Group, totes, bucket bags, clutches, and other handbags are a 7.9 billion dollars market and American women have an average of 11 handbags in their closets although 8 percent of women, especially between the ages of 16 to 24, admitted to spend 400 dollars on a handbag at least once.

Notably, merge of Internet with the celebrity-industrial complex plays a vital role as blogs help people to identify the bags used by celebrities ranging from Jessica Simpson to Kate Middleton and her sister Pippa Middleton.

Accessories used by business and political leaders are also in demand, like Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer who sported quilted Chanel purse when she met US President Barack Obama at the White House