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From Work to Weekend: How to Choose a Handbag That Does Both
Finding a bag for work isn’t particularly difficult. Finding one that you still want to carry when you’re not working is a different story. A lot of work bags are chosen for practical reasons. Does the laptop fit? Is there enough room? Can I carry everything I need for the day? All important questions, of course. But sometimes we focus so much on what a bag can carry that we forget to ask a much simpler question: do I actually like it?
Because if you’re investing in a good handbag, it would be nice to use it for more than the journey between home and the office. So if you’re looking for something that can take you from work to dinner, and Monday morning to Saturday afternoon, here’s what we’d think about.
Don’t start by looking for a “work bag”
This might sound a little backwards, but hear us out. Search for a work bag and you’ll probably find plenty of large totes in black, brown and beige. They’re practical, polished and usually designed around carrying a laptop. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. But if you want a bag you’ll use outside of work too, try looking at it as a handbag first. Would you have noticed it if you weren’t shopping for work? Would you still like the shape if you didn’t know it could fit a laptop? Would you wear it with the clothes you already own? Then you can think about the practical side. It still needs to hold whatever you genuinely bring to work, but there’s a difference between a work bag and a handbag that also works for work. If it’s something you want to carry all week, we’d go with the latter.
Take the laptop out
Here’s a very simple test.
Imagine you’ve finished work and taken your laptop, charger and notebook out of your bag. Would you still want to carry it? Some bags look perfectly at home in the office but feel strangely oversized once all the work things come out. Others are so corporate looking that you’d probably change bags before heading out for dinner. A good work-to-weekend bag should look just as natural with less inside it. That doesn’t mean it needs to double as a tiny evening bag. A bag can’t be everything. But it shouldn’t feel like you’re bringing your office to Saturday lunch either.
It doesn’t have to be black
We love a black bag. It’s easy, goes with almost everything and makes sense for work. But black isn’t automatically the most versatile choice. Brown, taupe, burgundy, cream, muted green and even a soft blue can work beautifully with office clothes without feeling too formal on the weekend. Instead of asking “What’s the safest colour?”, look at the colours you actually wear. If your wardrobe is mostly black, white, cream and denim, for example, a coloured bag can be much easier to wear than you might expect. And sometimes that little bit of colour is exactly what makes a simple outfit more interesting. You don’t need your handbag to match everything. It just needs to work with enough of it.
Look at the little things
Sometimes it’s difficult to explain why one large handbag feels like an office bag while another doesn’t. Often, it’s in the details. A very firm shape can feel more formal, while something softer tends to feel more relaxed. Smooth leather gives a different impression from pebbled leather. A distinctive clasp, interesting hardware or a slightly unusual handle can make even a simple bag feel less corporate.
And then there’s how the bag behaves when you carry it. We particularly like bags that don’t look exactly the same when they’re empty and full. A softer bag might hold everything you need during the working day, then relax into a completely different shape once you take a few things out. That’s useful when you’re trying to make one bag work in different settings.
Think about what you actually wear on weekends
Not your imaginary weekend wardrobe. Your real one.
Think about what you wore last Saturday. Maybe it was jeans and a T-shirt. Maybe a dress and sandals. Maybe you went to Pilates in the morning and somehow ended up wearing activewear until dinner. Would the bag you’re considering look right with that?
It’s such a simple question, but it’s probably a better way of judging versatility than trying to decide whether a handbag is “casual” or “formal”. Everyone’s weekend looks different. The bag only needs to work with yours.
Don’t choose practicality over personality
Of course, a bag you carry to work needs to be practical. But practical doesn’t have to mean boring. Once you’ve worked out the things you really need: enough space, a secure closure, comfortable straps, perhaps room for a laptop – everything else can come down to what you like.
Maybe it’s an unusual turn lock. A beautiful texture. A shape you haven’t seen everywhere. Or simply a colour that makes you happy every time you pick it up. Those details might not make the bag more functional. But they might be the reason you keep reaching for it. And isn’t that part of what makes a good everyday bag?
The Saturday morning test
Before deciding, imagine the bag sitting by your door on a Saturday morning. There’s no laptop to carry. No meeting to get to. You’re just heading out for coffee, lunch or whatever you have planned for the day.
Would you still pick it up?
If the answer is yes, you’ve probably found something much better than a work bag. You’ve found an everyday handbag that happens to work rather well from Monday to Friday too. And if practicality is still at the top of your list, especially if you carry a laptop or quite a bit with you each day, we’ve put together a more detailed guide to choosing the right work bag.
Or, if you already know what you’re looking for, you can explore our collection of handbags and find one that fits into your week, not just your working week.