The earliest purse

The earliest known purses were, not surprisingly, used by the ancient Egyptians. Hieroglyphs were found, where you can see people wear a bag tied around her waist like object. But it is a case where the famous ancient iceman, the "Iceman Ötzi" a 5000 year old mummy in the Alps near the Austrian and Italian border found a leather purse was wearing.
Next time in history that we see leather purses is, during the 14th Century in Europe. Social status had much to do with the design of such bags. The more elaborate the embroidery and the higher the quality of the bag marks the owner as the one who is higher in the social strata. At this time, or purses were only worn by women.
Men had to wait until the 1600s for it to be socially acceptable for them to have purse. Which was great as the women wallets before their time. They had gold embroidered in them. They gave their brides purses with embroidered images. Women then uses to display their purses for everyone, but as her clothes getting bigger, they could hide the purses in her skirts. Began in the 1700s, men wear their pants with pockets. This trend in fashion almost killed her practice of carrying purses. They now had little pockets to hold coins. Probably the leather wallet was first used at this time. Before their purses were usually linked only with cloth strings.
In the 19th Century with the rise of neo-classical style women began to wear their bags again. The fashion of the day may not have room for bags or purses under the dress. They showed her embroidered bags that matched their dresses. Still, it was only during the 20th Century that the term handbag was used to describe their pockets. The bags were then developed from 1 to 2 or more-pocket-pocket. It was also during this time when handbags were not only correspond to what women wore designed.
During the 2nd World War plastic was used for the first time, and after the war in the 1950s, all major design label on the band wagon and there was no looking back for bags or purses of any kind, because as we all know, when one or more reputable Design House will begin production some, the product tends to get instant credibility. Nowadays, it's just incredible to see, women leave their homes without their familiar pockets. Handbags are open to terminate their "home away from home".