Caro-Nan Handcrafted Basket Purses, and Angionette's Dress Shop, Bozeman

Every once in a while three different stories collide, from three different locations, and it becomes a serendipitous event.  To create this story, a northern Virginia thrift store, a former ladies dress shop in Bozeman, Montana and a purse company founded in Jackson, Mississippi, all converged.

Most of us have never lusted after a vintage woven basket purse.  Instead, it is not uncommon to see a Louis Vuitton handbag on New York's Fifth Avenue; a Kate Spade bag coming out of Neiman Marcus in Dallas; or at the worst case, a Coach clutch by Tapestry coming out of a store at the Tampa Premium Outlet Mall.   

This hand crafted purse came out of a thrift store adventure in northern Virginia.  It started out by being an unknown basket purse.  It was handcrafted and upon further inspection, it looked like it was made for someone in Bozeman, Montana. The hand-painted street scene had storefronts with "MSU" and "Bobcats" written in the store windows.  Anyone tracking universities or sports news would know that this is Montana State University and their beloved Bobcat, the university mascot. Additionally on this street scene there was a store named Big Sky Ski and another named Angionette's on the purse.

Caro-Nan Basket Purse
Hand-Painted Store Front - Street Scene
Decoupaged Top
"Angionette's"

The inside lid of the purse was signed by the company craftspeople:  Caro-Nan.  Also on the inside lid was the title:  Angionette's.  Angionette's was one of the finest high-end dress shops in Montana, located at 5 East Main Street, Bozeman.  It was owned and operated by Angionette (b. 1920 - d. 95) and Harold Warfield.  Harold died in 1991, and Angionette continued to run the business until 1993.  During my college days, Angionette would advertise in the student university newspaper, The Exponent.

Inside Lid with Title and Company Signature

Caro-Nan distinguished themselves by designing and creating hand-painted and decoupaged custom street scenes of cities and towns across the country that were easily recognizable by women carrying them on the street.  So it was clear that Caro-Nan had created a Bozeman store front scene purse.  Yet, had Mrs. Warfield commissioned this purse as a sample for her store, or did she have this purse created for herself?  The purse appears to be unused, so that means Mrs. Warfield never used it.

On the other hand, perhaps Angionette's Dress Shop sold Bozeman Basket Purses, that were created by the Jackson company founders:  Carolyn McDaniel and Nancy Steele.  The company name, Caro-Nan was the abbreviation of their two first names and was started in 1965.

McDaniel's mother lived in our Nation's Capitol and saw a handcrafted basket purse in a Georgetown knitting shop and decided to make one herself.  She got a lidded basket, painted it, and sent it to her daughter, Carolyn in Mississippi.  Carolyn carried it around, and other women would stop and ask her where she got the purse.  This started the impetus for Caro-Nan.

Hand-Painted Street Scene 

McDaniel and Steele finally found a source for a couple baskets in Vermont to do their prototype purses.  Gathered around a kitchen table and for recreation they created their first purses, which quickly turned into a thriving business, as they became increasingly popular with women stylists. Salespeople that saw them, ordered them for their own dress shops, and they hit their popularity requiring numerous craftspeople to paint and decoupage these lidded basket purses.  This iconic fashion statement went by the wayside in the early 1980s.

In 2016, these two founders were honored by the Esse Purse Museum in Little Rock, AK.  The honor included an exhibit of their purses, with lectures and events.  Now their exclusive purses are back on center stage and are part of a vintage lust-worthy luxury brand.           

References:

• Kelly Hartman, 2017, Bozeman Magazine, Multitudes of Enthusiasm Celebrating a Gallatin Valley Christmas, Gallatin Historical Society
• Sherry Lucas, 2016, The Clarion-Ledger, Basket case: Caro Nan purses and their Jackson founders, Jackson, MS.  
• Esse Purse Museum, 2016 Exhibit, CARO NAN The Women Behind the Baskets, Little Rock, AK 

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Waller-Yoblonsky Fine Art is a research collaborative, working to track artists that got lost and overlooked due to time, changing styles, race, gender and/or sexual orientation. Our frequent blogs highlight artists and art movements that need renewed attention with improved information for the researcher and art collectors.  These photos were created by Mr. Waller and all materials are used under the Fair Use Section 107, Copyright Act, unless otherwise noted.  #waller-yoblonskyblogspot  #caro-nan  #caronanpurses #basketpurses