### Author:  [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2007, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarice-starlings-handbag/431196/1 "2007-12-25T10:24:08Z")
IIRC she had a good purse and cheap shoes. So what kind of handbag was it?
What’s a handbag that would impress a sociopathic cannibal? Probably not Dooney & Bourke I’m thinking…
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### Author:  [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2007, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarice-starlings-handbag/431196/2 "2007-12-25T12:31:38Z")
[Link](http://hannibalstudiolo.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1989&sid=a233667fb09950c9bf5afbca007213a5) on another board about this subject.
Wasn’t [this one](http://www.cafepress.com/shirtpervert.113679833), was it?
I really enjoyed the movie and thought I’d spend some time looking for the answer to your question. Read some very interesting articles about the film adaptations of this movie compared to others. For some reason Google liked to list Harris bags on UK’s eBay.
(I tried various combinations of \. My GoogleFu is weak this morning.)
You could try [YouTube](http://youtube.com/results?search_query=silence+lambs&search=Search) and try to make out the name or deduce the name from the shape of the bag.
[Found it!](http://www.saksfifthavenue.com/main/ProductArray.jsp?sicontent=0&sicreative=1044541504&siclientid=1273&sitrackingid=12090380&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374306422318&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524446169570&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474399545537&bmUID=1190151950348&SECSLOT=BR-L.A.M.B.&site_refer=360i+G&kw_refer=l.a.m.b.+handbags), sorry just kidding.
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2007, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarice-starlings-handbag/431196/3 "2007-12-25T13:01:30Z")
[QUOTE=Hilarity N. Suze]
What’s a handbag that would impress a sociopathic cannibal?
[/QUOTE]
One from [this movie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0297895/).
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### Author:  [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2007, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarice-starlings-handbag/431196/4 "2007-12-25T21:29:01Z")
:eek:
[QUOTE=Tapioca Dextrin]
One from [this movie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0297895/).
[/QUOTE]
Er…I guess I meant a sociopathic cannibal with good taste.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2007, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarice-starlings-handbag/431196/5 "2007-12-25T21:33:50Z")
One that’s made…_outta people!_
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### Author:  [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarice-starlings-handbag/431196/6 "2007-12-27T21:20:41Z")
Okay, I’m on a quest here…I’ve checked out a couple of places and, short of looking up Jodie Foster and asking her, I’m out of ideas.
So I’m bumping this, in case the person with the answer was doing holiday stuff a couple of days ago.
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### Author:  [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2007, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarice-starlings-handbag/431196/7 "2007-12-27T21:24:15Z")
I thought in the book it was a Coach bag. Not sure though.
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### Author:  [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2007, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarice-starlings-handbag/431196/8 "2007-12-27T21:31:02Z")
Coach sounds right, but it’s been so long since I read the book…but I don’t think the one in the movie could have been Coach, because I didn’t see any logo on it at all, and don’t most of them have big ol’ logos?
(I’m not designer bag expert, obviously.)
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2007, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarice-starlings-handbag/431196/9 "2007-12-27T21:44:06Z")
No not all of the Coach bags have huge logos on them.
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### Author:  [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2007, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarice-starlings-handbag/431196/10 "2007-12-27T21:50:40Z")
Oh no, lots of Coach bags don’t have logos. I can’t even think of what the Coach logo looks like. Mine has no logo of any kind except a little tag that hangs off from a chain.
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarice-starlings-handbag/431196/11 "2007-12-27T22:03:33Z")
There is the huge ‘kissing Cs’ logo that repeats over and over. They look kind of like horse shoes.
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### Author:  [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2007, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarice-starlings-handbag/431196/12 "2007-12-27T23:29:07Z")
The book doesn’t mention the brand name of the bag - I just re-read it recently, funnily enough.
I always imagined the bag was something along the lines of Gucci or Chanel. Too much?
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### Author:  [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2007, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarice-starlings-handbag/431196/13 "2007-12-27T23:42:48Z")
[QUOTE=HazelNutCoffee]
The book doesn’t mention the brand name of the bag - I just re-read it recently, funnily enough.
I always imagined the bag was something along the lines of Gucci or Chanel. Too much?
[/QUOTE]
Right–the book said something like she’d saved up for it.
I’m pretty sure the handbag in the movie was not Chanel, at least not the distinctive quilted bag with chain handles. I don’t recall it having an obvious logo. (I don’t remember her shoes looking particularly cheap either, though.)
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### Author:  [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2007, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarice-starlings-handbag/431196/14 "2007-12-27T23:44:54Z")
I’m thinking Coach. Clarice isn’t a designer bag kind of woman. Coach is a good bag – something you buy for the quality rather than the name. Isn’t it? I’ve never owned one.
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### Author:  [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2007, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarice-starlings-handbag/431196/15 "2007-12-28T00:06:51Z")
Hmmm, I was thinking more along the lines of a [Hermes](http://www.createursdeluxe.com/about.asp) bag. I don’t think Coach would have impressed Lecter as much as Hermes.
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### Author:  [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2007, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarice-starlings-handbag/431196/16 "2007-12-28T00:21:31Z")
[QUOTE=HelloKitty]
Hmmm, I was thinking more along the lines of a [Hermes](http://www.createursdeluxe.com/about.asp) bag. I don’t think Coach would have impressed Lecter as much as Hermes.
[/QUOTE]
I don’t think she would’ve paid $10k for a handbag. I’m guessing Coach. Old school Coach bags were well made and conservative. The newer Coach bags have tried to become a flashier, trendier label and ripped off the Gucci logo for logo bags and have become a lot more common, diluting the brand. But when the books were written, Coach still had some status.
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### Author:  [@inforainment](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inforainment)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2022, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarice-starlings-handbag/431196/17 "2022-05-10T06:40:30Z")
In the book she reflects on having saved for the “classic casual handbag”
Coach bags of her era were noted for classic stylish simplicity, high quality leather, brass hardware and excellent workmanship. This was before the 2000’s when designer branding and labels for labels sake took hold and cheapened things (think that ‘C’ logo plastered about). In the 1970’s-1990s it was very much an upscale American brand, still entirely out of New York and designed by Bonnie Cashin. While not as flashy or expensive as the European labels like Hermes or Chanel, Coach had a functional elegance that breathed sophistication. Essentially a Coach crossbody purse or clutch was THE bag a tasteful professional woman like Clarice would strive to carry.
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### Author:  [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2022, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarice-starlings-handbag/431196/18 "2022-05-10T11:40:01Z")
I think Lecter’s point was Clarice did not have taste. She was trying to imitate something she was not. He saw her poor trashy upbringing when she walked up to his cell.
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### Author:  [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2022, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarice-starlings-handbag/431196/19 "2022-05-10T14:14:48Z")
Yeah, I don’t remember him being impressed, as such. He was reading her. Bone structure, accent, accessories (nice bag, cheap shoes).
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### Author:  [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2022, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarice-starlings-handbag/431196/20 "2022-05-10T14:40:27Z")
We’re her shoes suitable for running, if the need arose?
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