In the 1940s, women’s bags were simple and functional, reflecting the more sober sensibilities and limited resources of wartime. Shoulder bags, styled after the military satchels men carried on the war front, were worn slung over the shoulder or across the body as women walked or cycled to and from their jobs in support of the war effort. Later, this same style of bag would be reclaimed by women in the sixties as a down-to-earth counterpoint to the popular plastics of the space age. The priorities of the age determined the priorities of the handbag, including whether form came before function or vice-versa.