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"We&amp;#x27;ve all got our weaknesses: I&amp;#x27;m a sucker for shoes, my sister has more beautiful jewelry than just about anyone I know, and one of my closest friends has 40-plus pairs of jeans. But this afternoon, I discovered a woman who turned her handbag obsession into a genuine art form... Hendrikje Ivo started her collection innocently enough, with a vintage leather and tortoise handbag she discovered in England...and from there her fascination with handbags grew and grew, until her collection was 4,000 pieces strong and she opened up the Museum of Bags and Purses. The museum is located in a beautifully restored 1600s townhouse right above the canal on one of the ritziest blocks in Amsterdam. They&amp;#x27;ve got a fabulous parlor where you can have high tea, a historical garden out back, a gift shop where one could get into a whole lot of trouble, and, as you may have guessed, piles and piles of incredible arm candy on display. It&amp;#x27;s actually the world&amp;#x27;s largest collection of handbags under one roof. The oldest and most valuable bag in the museum, pictured above, is a goat skin purse that dates back to the 16th century and has 15 pockets to hold just about anything you can imagine. We viewed room after room of beautiful beaded bags, intricately stamped leather pouches, and modern masterpieces, and what struck our entire group was really how little handbags have changed in 300-something years. The 20th century case, stocked with classics like the Hermes Kelly, the Fendi Baguette, and the classic quilted Chanel, looked every bit as modern as some of its predecessors. There were also a few serious standouts: Two donations from Imelda Marcos (and you thought she was just about shoes!), a green Versace bag once toted by Madonna, a teeny evening bag made to look like one of my other unbreakable weaknesses, a can of Diet Coke, and a real armadillo who gave his life in the name of fashion (can you imagine carrying that thing around?!) It&amp;#x27;s nice to see an accessory we way too often treat like a guilty pleasure instead being seen as a beautiful canvas. In fact, Hendrikje Ivo&amp;#x27;s daughter, who runs the museum these days, told us, &amp;quot;This is art for everybody--rich people, poor people, everyone!&amp;quot; You don&amp;#x27;t have to tell me twice, sister! What do you guys think--do handbags deserve their own museum or what? Have you ever been to the Museum of Bags and Purses while visiting Amsterdam? Would it be a must-see stop on your own trip over here? And which lustworthy handbag of the moment most deserves its own display, in your opinion? "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/fashion/blogs/dressed/2009/03/dont-feel-bad-about-your-acces>