Sweet & Candy Vintage Shopping Handbag

Navy trim, white stitching, aged gold

Before you get to the picture, you notice the frame around it. The gussets, the trim and the twin handles are all deep navy, run through with white topstitching that sits proud of the surface instead of disappearing into it. The metalwork has an aged gold finish: eyelet tabs where the handles meet the body, rivets at the top corners. It is a quiet build, and it is what keeps the printed panel from tipping into fancy dress. Most of the bags we carry in this shape are plainer than this one.

The Pastoral Dream nameplate

A wide band of textured blue-grey faux leather runs across the top of the front panel and gives the eye somewhere to rest. Fixed to it is a small gold-tone nameplate reading "PastoralDream" in a looping script. Two tabs, each finished with an eyelet, anchor the handles to that band.

A structured blue faux leather handbag, 28x24 cm

28 cm across by 24 cm high places this between an evening clutch and a full shopping tote: room for a phone, a paperback, keys and a small pouch, without the slump a soft bag gives you by the afternoon. It stands up on its own and holds that shape once loaded.

Dragonflies on the reverse

Turn the bag round and the mood changes completely. The back is a blue ground scattered with white and pink dragonflies drawn in fine outline. A cream patch pocket is stitched across a good part of it, closed by a long horizontal zip with a metal pull. Three lines of handwritten text stand out in relief across the pocket, and a round embossed Sweet & Candy medallion finishes the corner.

Wearing a picture bag without overdoing it

A printed bag does the talking, so the rest of the outfit can stay quiet: indigo denim, a cream knit, a camel coat. The gold hardware is jewellery enough on its own. Inside, a slim wallet fits this footprint without a fight.