Launer Traviata

The Traviata is a small, upright handbag of black leather, square in outline and slightly wider at the base than at the top, carried by a single rolled handle fixed with small gold-plated fittings. Its front flap is cut with a stepped notch on each side, so that a narrower tongue drops down the middle; on it sits the clasp, a loop of gold-plated metal twisted like rope, the Launer emblem. The bag is lined in suede, divided down the centre, and carries a leather-covered mirror. It measures 23.5 centimetres across and 20 high, and a long strap can be clipped on for the shoulder.

Launer was founded in London by Sam Launer, who had left Czechoslovakia during the Second World War. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother bought one of its bags in the 1950s, her daughter followed, and in 1968 the firm received the Queen's royal warrant. By Bloomberg's account the business then languished until 1981, when Gerald Bodmer took it over and gathered its making in Walsall, the old leather town of the West Midlands.

Launer dates the Traviata to 1989. It became the bag most associated with the Queen, who by Bodmer's count owned more than two hundred Launers; a black patent Traviata was among her favourites. Bodmer told Hello! that it was the style she used most in recent years, and Launer says it is the firm's best-selling bag. Margaret Thatcher and Judi Dench have carried Launers too.

The design has changed little. Bloomberg's description in 2017, with its centre divider, back pocket, mirror and suede lining, matches the bag Launer sells now, and a photograph on the firm's website in 2006 shows the same notched flap and rope clasp. Since 2011 it has also been offered in bright colours, and in exotic skins such as python. It is still made by hand in Walsall, and Launer sells it from its own website.