What to Do with Your Evening Bag

This may seem like a silly question, but I never know what to do with my evening bag when I go out at night?

Since I have to take my car key, house key, driver’s license, and often a credit card — and most certainly a lipgloss and cellphone — I have to carry them all in a bag that cannot be left in my car, or at a high cocktail table or on a chair while I mingle or dance. I’m not a fan of the feedbag pouch at night. Nor am I ever a fan of the knapsack or across-the-chest shoulder bag, the fanny pack or the bum bag when I’m dressed up. So, I end up carrying a clutch or envelope in my hand — both of which can be tucked under my arm. However, I really don’t like standing around with a drink in one hand while clutching an envelope bag in my armpit, because I have to be shaking hands or air kissing with my right hand.

What would you suggest?

–Amelia, Manhattan

About the convenience of the evening bag, and the fear of losing one’s identity and keys when out and about on the town at night. What did women do at night when they carried a cigarette case, cigarette lighter, lipstick, compact, and keys?

As fashionable as the envelope and clutch may look when walking into a room with it clutched in one’s hand by one’s side, it looks perfectly awful held in the armpit. Yes, there is no doubt about it, they’re awkward after the grand entrance.

At a restaurant the clutch and envelope are relatively safe when seated with it resting on your lap or tucked behind your back between the back of the seat at the dinner table, or when it is discreetly (if it is quite small and elegant) placed on the table beside your fork. Seated in a banquette, you wouldn’t have to place your bag on the floor, because it is nestled beside you.

To illustrate the kind of evening bag that doubles, because of the chain, as a shoulder bag, here are our fav examples. These small evening bags are not to be worn on the back or across the chest, but dangled securely straight from the inside of the shoulder down to your waist.