Seamstress Marianne is wearing a 1930s style dress she made herself from her own original pattern, and the mustard yellow cardigan is a charity shop find. Marianne tells me that the handbag she is wearing is made from paper, Marianne goes on to explain; “My shopping bag was a flea market find and it is a genuine 1940s item. In Finland where I am from they made a lot of different things out of paper during the recession in the 30s and 40s, (mainly shoes and bags), but I have for example, seen a deadstock men’s suit, spats and some hats made of woven paper string at a local TV station storage room. Someone had donated them a whole storage from a old general store and they had all sorts of deadstock goodies to drool over. They even had rolls of paper string fabric. The bag I have is very sturdy and strong in use, I carry it with me almost daily, I also own a clutch style paper handbag. I saw some paper shoes with wooden heels online recently, but they were obviously only wearable during the warm seasons and when it didn’t rain”.