aden My other half as well as I were getting ready for our babymoon to Quebec City and, as a light packer himself as well as complying with a honeymoon in Asia featuring my very heavy luggage, Perry made it clear that logic as well as convenience would have to prevail on this one. Συμφωνώ. After all, I had the perfect bag to bring along with me: my relatively new Staud Shirley PVC tote.
The Shirley, you see, is a bit of a shortcut: the brand’s signature tote features a plastic, see-through bag with a handle as well as a second clutch inside of it. think of it as two bags in one, meant to be worn together or separately.
While in Canada, during daylight hours, I carried around my cellphone, travel guide, wallet, reading material as well as a couple of snacks. As the sun set, I’d relocate my phone as well as wallet in the pouch as well as enjoy my evenings tugging around a lighter load.
Needless to say, some type of the tote made it in the majority of our vacation pictures: it peeks through in a picture we took at the prison-turned-college-turned-library that we visited on day two as well as makes an appearance in a couple of images snapped at the famous Fairmont Le Château Frontenac hotel, for example.
As I take the tote out of my closet today after a winter spent in hibernation (the clutch is white, after all), those images come rushing back to me. since that’s the thing about bags: they’re always along for the ride, helping us bring pieces of ourselves throughout our days while becoming fodder for the memories we produce along the way.
Which is what makes the present state of the world that much odder: there are no rides to take, no places to go to, no destinations to bring our things to. Bags have effectively ended up being useless in a society that’s been spending months at home.
But as nearly-unbearable as our present situation has become, I wonder: do we miss carrying bags around? Although we likely all yearn for the days we used to schlep loads from our homes to our offices as well as then to the bar as well as back home, do we really crave the use of the bag itself?
Δέχομαι. I miss stuffing the latest problem of the new Yorker alongside my program as well as my notebook in the long pocket of my black, square, work-appropriate Prada bag. just glancing at it now reminds me of the hours I spent clutching onto it while riding the new York City subway up as well as down the island while prepping for interviews as well as brainstorming the next huge thing to write about. I don’t miss aching shoulders at the end of each workday, however I do miss the structure of the day itself as well as exactly how all the things I carried in my bag were meant to shape it all for the better.
“I miss using my bags so much,” my good friend Nadine said a few nights ago, during a conversation about all the changes that the advent of the coronavirus has brought along with it. “To me, grabbing one before heading out of the home signals the start of my routine. I miss having that structure as well as purpose.”
Michaela, my sister, echoed her sentiments: “I lastly decided to bring my summer bag out of hiding the other day and, in the process, I emptied my winter bag of its former contents. I came across my monthly metro card as well as my train ticket. It reminded me that I had a life prior to this catastrophe.”
As the conversation pivoted towards the warming weather as well as its role in pushing folks outside their homes for short walks or grocery runs, the consensus among a group of 20- as well as 30-something women seemed to be that, although bags are starting to be useful again, their material roster is much different than it was a simple four months ago.
“I lastly decided to use a new bag I had bought in the winter for the summer as well as all I put in are gloves, masks, my phone, wallet as well as hand sanitizer,” Jamie said longingly, reminiscing about the days she’d fill her purse up with makeup to go straight out for the night from the office.
“I associate a bag with going out,” Roxanne said. “But since I’m barely going out it almost seems weird to bring a bag. I honestly get a little depressed looking at my bags since they remind me of life pre-corona.”
As protesters take to the streets all around the country, their bags have likewise morphed into grander statements, holding valuable possessions like IDs as well as phones alongside other belongings, in situation they are arrested or requirement to get in touch with anyone—a function that calls back to the original use of the product, an product meant to gather tools needed to get through the day.
The role of handbags in the advancement of civilization is commonly overlooked: although today marketed as fashion accessories, bags were born out of a requirement to gather materials for survival. Self-made pouches constructed with tree bark as well as fibers were used by hunter-gatherers as a way to stORE καθώς και χαλαρά τρόφιμα, καθώς και εργαλεία που ανακαλύφθηκαν κάθε μέρα. Στους αρχαίους πολιτισμούς, τόσο οι άνδρες όσο και οι γυναίκες περπατούσαν γύρω με πορτοφόλια κορδονιών που κρέμονται από τους γοφούς τους, πιθανόν να φέρουν κάτι περισσότερο από το νόμισμα.
Φυσικά, η τσάντα του σήμερα είναι το αποτέλεσμα αρκετών μετατοπίσεων στις μορφές καθώς και στη λειτουργία, προσαρμόζοντας μια παρόμοια μετατόπιση της κοινωνίας. Pre-Covid-19, η τσάντα έγινε κάτι περισσότερο από έναν πάροχο των πραγμάτων που ανακαλύψαμε κατά μήκος του δρόμου, αντί να περιείχε τα πράγματα που είχαμε ήδη ισχυριστεί ως δικά μας καθώς και μας υπενθύμισε στο σπίτι: το βιβλίο που δεν μπορούμε να φτάσουμε Λοιπόν, ελπίζουμε να βουτήξουμε κατά την οδήγηση του λεωφορείου, μια χαλαρή πιπίλα που τα παιδιά μας γεμίζουν εκεί, ένα τηλεχειριστήριο που ανακαλύφθηκε περίεργα ή μια οδοντόβουρτσα καθώς και εσώρουχα από τότε που ξέρει πού θα μας οδηγήσει η μέρα;
Αλλά καθώς ο ιός χτύπησε, καθώς και γύρισε την τσάντα άχρηστη τουλάχιστον για κάποιο χρονικό διάστημα, το προϊόν θα μπορούσε να μετατοπιστεί για άλλη μια φορά στην ιδέα; Τι κατέληξε η τσάντα κατά τη διάρκεια της καραντίνας εκτός από ένα μνημείο μιας ζωής που όταν ήταν; Ίσως, ακριβώς αυτό. Ίσως, κατά τη διάρκεια αυτής της περιόδου παγκόσμιας παύσης, η τσάντα έχει αναλάβει το ρόλο του νοσταλγικού ήρωα, μιας εκπροσώπησης της πιο ευχάριστης, πολιτιστικής, εξωτερικού και ενδιαφέρουσας ζωής που υποστηρίξαμε ως δική μας καθώς και αυτό–ελπιδοφόρα-σύντομα Γίνετε ξανά.
Ανεξάρτητα από το μέγεθος ή το στυλ ή τη χρονική περίοδο, οι τσάντες αντιπροσώπευαν πάντα την αντι-Καρντίνη: που χρησιμοποιούνται αποκλειστικά όταν φεύγουν πραγματικά από το σπίτι, είναι δείκτες περιπέτειας καθώς και εμπειρία καθώς και ταξίδια (ακόμη και στο παντοπωλείο!) να έρθω. Μέχρι τότε, θα με ανακαλύψετε να καθίσω δίπλα στο ντουλάπι μου, κοιτάζοντας την τσάντα του Red Mark Cross μου, θυμίζοντας για όλες τις εκπληκτικές στιγμές που είχα ενώ το έφερα μαζί μου.