The German Leather Museum houses an extraordinary, largely historical collection of bags, most of which are preserved out of sight in the museum.

The studio exhibition relied on 40 items to trace the precise development of the bag, demonstrating the emergence of specific types that still shape fashion and everyday life today.

Bags: Having been merely a mundane means of transporting raw materials and food in prehistoric times, they evolved in the Middle Ages into pouches and belt-bags initially used by men only, and ultimately developed over millennia into sophisticated and now hugely popular accessories. As a utility item, bags are functional, while as a luxury product and a status symbol they are used for decorative and fashion purposes. Because of the great range of different requirements and changes in fashions, down through time countless forms and variations of bags have taken shape. Within the space of a day, both men and women might use multiple specific models: an office bag, a shopping bag, a sports bag, and later in the day – mostly only albeit for women – an evening bag.