I don't understand women's obsession with hand bags, especially those that cost a fortune.

I'm not a big fan of "luxury" brands. I'll pay more for something only if the value proposition is justified to a certain extent. For example, I'm fine with Buying a Merc or BMW because of it's superior engineering (though I'll buy them only if live in a country where I can drive it. In India, Nano and BMW get the same respect on the roads).  However, I don't see myself buying a Rolex or Tissot, because a significantly cheaper Titan or Casio is able to give me the exact time. 

When we men go buy expensive things, there is subconscious thought in the back of our mind that it is going get us a Woman. It's an evolutionary behavior where the male in the society is considered to be superior based on the things that he owns rather that what he actually is. The more wealthier we look, increases the chances of attracting a suitable mate..in scientific terms. (On a side note, it's much more easier buying stuff than getting a six pack abs).

However the female species flaunts the beauty to gain attention (again evolutionary). Hence it is understandable when women are so much concerned about looks and spend a hell a lot of money in what they believe will make them look better - things such as Jewelry, clothes, shoes, skin care, hair care etc etc. 

But Handbags, I'm not too sure why? I mean if you give me a choice of marrying the world sexiest woman without a handbag and her clone with a luxurious handbag, I would say I'll marry both. See, handbags are not even in men's mind. We don't care about it. We don't even discuss them. We don't go like "Oh! She's got a nice Gucci" or "Her Louis Vuitton rocks!". We are more concerned about ..you know.. other things that have tangible value. In fact, handbags are a big turn off. We prefer staying away from women who own luxurious handbags for we fear there is a tiny little futuristic possibility that we may end up spending for one of those. 

I somehow get the feeling that the purchase decision behind a Handbag signifies the independence the woman enjoys or what she wants to enjoy. She takes pleasure in buying an expensive item. It is for this reason that women are happier buying the handbag themselves than someone gifting it to them (unlike jewelry). It's more to show off to other woman that she is more independent (or in a few cases she has a richer husband). It looks like more of a social need to evoke jealousy within their kind. Hmm…fascinating.

You may question that jewelry has the same issues. But jewelry can be resold, sometimes at higher value! - thanks to ever increasing gold price. Handbags don't have resale value - there is no second hand market for handbags. There is a substantial "fake" market though. And it flourishes day by day because of our constant obsession to pay more for the "brand". Paying more for an Apple product, or a superiorly engineered car or even for gold seems reasonable. But just paying more for a "logo".. I'm not too sure. But of course, a lot of people have done research on this and came up with solid consumer insights which I'm pretty sure borders on irrationality in purchase decisions (there, I haven't lost my MBA jargons).  If everyone is rational, we'd all be wearing the same suit as in those sci-fi movies.

P.S: I have a friend who owns a Gucci Handbag that costs about Rs. 80000. A trivia if you are wondering what provoked me to write this article.