From Toronto's own, The Walrus:
How a humble bag became a humble brag
In the 1880s, a newspaper owner named Jasper Meek was looking out the window of his print shop in Coshocton, Ohio, when he saw a young girl drop her school books. As the story now goes, the sight inspired him to fashion a burlap bag in which people could carry books. But Meek also had an entrepreneurial mind, and he figured out a way to maximize his profit: he’d charge local businesses to print their names on the bags, which then served as tiny billboards as they were carried across town.
Canvas as a textile wasn’t unusual among labourers. But the tote’s commercial popularity began in 1944, when L. L. Bean launched what was then called the “ice bag,” because it was originally used to literally carry ice. The bag was relaunched in the ’60s and hasn’t changed in any meaningful way since: wide, made of structured canvas, with a flat bottom, reinforced handles, a trim available in several colours, and the option of a custom monogram. The company now offers a variety of shapes and sizes, but the classic tote is still one of its bestsellers.
In the decades that followed, totes have grown from a journeyman staple to a ubiquitous literary trophy on the streets of many major cities as well as on Instagram and TikTok. Concerns about single-use plastics over the past few years have undoubtedly fuelled the demand. But there’s also a mystique to the tote. It has gone on to inspire high-end designers: you can now own leather or cowhide versions by Prada, Hermès, or the Row. “The tote bag fits a larger trend of the democratization of fashion,” Dicky Yangzom, a cultural and economic sociologist at New York University, told Vox in 2022. “Similarly to utility wear in fashion with the rise of the jumpsuit, this wasn’t designed for mass fashion. It was more geared toward people who do more manual work, right? So all of these categories are shifting.” Yangzom says that tote bags, having moved past their humble origins, are here to stay....
....MUCH MORE
The picture links have rotted in the Balenciaga post but Bored Panda delivers the goods:
And IKEA's response:
February 2017A couple weeks late to this but interesting as a reflection of bizarro world Zeitgeist.
That said however, should Dolce & Gabbana come out with an Eau De Bernie I will probably just curl up in a corner of the office to await the end times.
