Prayerbook, scalpel, magic wand What's in your han

Prayerbook, scalpel, magic wand What's in your handbag?
Barbara Lee, white witch

I like a wide handbag, because I need to carry my wand. You never know when you might need it for a ritual.
The bag I’ve got at the moment is a bit small, so the wand is poking out of the top. I carry photos of my daughter everywhere [Lee’s teenage daughter Rhiannon died in 2007] and ones of my son too, so he doesn’t feel left out. There’s four different kinds of lipstick in there, because I like to know I have a choice. I’ve got long hair, so I need a proper brush.
I take my handbag with me everywhere. I’d feel ########## without it; it really is an extension of myself. I wouldn’t spend a lot on a bag. The last one I had, which I loved, was €6 from Tesco.
I see my handbag as a place where I put the things I really don’t want to lose. It is like a bottomless pit. For me, practicality takes over from elegance.
Debbie Dugan,cheap louis vuitton handbags, drain engineer
I have only ever bought one handbag. I used it for a few days and it has remained under my bed ever since. I have a rucksack now, but I only use it if I have too many items to squeeze into my pockets. I just carry my mobile, my cigarettes and my lighter. I put my cards in my iPhone wallet so they don’t fall out. Everything else goes in my van. My fiancee Carol frequently gets a new bag to add to her massive collection. She’s thrown out at least 100 over the last few years. Carol would get very excited at the prospect of getting a new handbag or even just talking about it. But my attitude is, if you have a bag, you’ll fill it, and what’s the point in that?
Colette Twomey, Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the Year 2011
I have a little handbag – a grey leather Louis Vuitton clutch – that I keep inside a bigger, carry-all kind of bag. I am not organised at all. I either have three lip pencils and no biro, or all I can find are loads of biros!
My bag is like a portable office, but I do tend to overstuff it. I have the speech I gave when I won the award in there, all folded up. I have an appointment card for my hairdresser. I’m on the road a lot, so I need to carry things like hairspray too.
I’m always finding random things, like business cards and bits of paper with someone’s name on them.
I don’t know when I last got to the bottom of my bag. It’s like an archaeological dig: you find something and think, ‘oh gosh, I don’t remember that’.
Olivia Leigh, mother of three
I have a red patent Furla bag. It was a Christmas present from my husband, from before the recession. These days, my handbag is really more of a baby bag. I’m never without a packet of baby wipes or my daughter’s inhaler. It’s like an extension of the bathroom. There’s a diary in there too, with all the children’s various medical check-ups. I don’t even bring make-up any more. There’s one lipstick, and I’m lucky if there’s a hairbrush. Life has definitely changed.
I used to love handbags and shoes. I had a lovely collection. I used to rotate my bags every two or three months. Now it’s every year if I can find the money.
Amanda Coogan, performance artist

I’m a handbag addict. I inherited my grandmother’s handbag when she died, and I keep it in my studio. It still has her keys and her prayerbook and her purse in it. I have made a few pieces of work around handbags: I’m interested in the Freudian connections between handbags and the womb.
In a video piece called Adoration, I adored a ######## Chloe handbag from New York. It was rather bold and cheeky to put the handbag in place of Jesus, but I see it as a query rather than being sensationalist. I’ll be showing a photograph, Madonna Handbag, at the forthcoming RHA annual exhibition.
The bag I have at the moment is frilly and cream. The bag has to be a certain size in order to carry my sketchbook and my notebook. Sunglasses are an absolute must, and at the moment I’m also carrying make-up, a roll of film, a scalpel and a screwdriver. Once, my mum gave me a huge red Hermès bag as a sop for being broke. It just screams ‘I have lots of money’. If you have to go to the bank to renegotiate your mortgage, that’s the one to use.