baggage analysis

ah, lovely lovely carefree bags.. from delightlyfully purpose-friendly Baggu's to Elisabeth's Margaret Howell number.

To me bag shopping is a task that will never cease to be difficult. It's just as relentless as it was in that frantic last week of August when I was at school and faced with finding that oxymoronic 'cool school bag' in time for the new term. 

I always lump bag shopping in the same category as jeans shopping (though thankfully am yet to find myself crying in a fitting room over something to carry my crap in..) but I can never quite understand why. Why is it that I am so sure of how I wish to look when it comes to clothes and yet so indesivive and clueless when it comes to something in which to carry my everyday loot. There is the issue of flashiness; I find it hard to find a bag on the High Street that doesn't come with completely unnecessary embellishment. Then there is practicality-I would quite happily carry a fabric tote around on my shoulder until the end of time if it wasn't for the rain factor. I spent last winter inflicting misery onto myself by carrying one out of complete laziness and fear of embarking on a bag quest. I would not wish such a lot of fuss onto anybody else as there are only so many times you can wear your bag inside your coat to protect your treasures being soaked through a non-waterproof fabric before you go insane. After a good couple of years of using fabric tote bags (and shoving everything into their one and only sections) you also start to completely appreciate the notion of pockets. They become a luxury. 'Three pockets!? Think of the opportunity for organisation! Pens here, a small tin of vaseline there! And oh look, I can zip my keys into here!'

I've also got to the stage of accepting that I find it difficult to minimise on baggage. I fall into that Mary Poppins category and a peek into my bag reveals I'm one of those 'what if..?' people who would rather haul a heavy camera, moleskin, countless pens, waterbottles and books than risk going without for a day. It's for this reason that a big bag suitable for shoving has become my go-to, I can think about the state of my shoulders when I'm through to the other side of life that prioritise revolves chiropractor fees over student loans. In reaction to all of this bag-alysis I'm having a bit of a moment of leaning towards simple bags that are well, personality free. The more simple and industrial looking, the better. A Chinese laundry bag, a similar plastic model that my Granny picked up in a Dutch department store, my Topshop Unique tote (hey, I'm not quite ready to let go of totes yet..) and an old black LeSportsac bag (the holy grail in sporty, simple, fuss free bags) are all on delicious rotation while I hold out for that perfect pocketed number..