Refusing to Be a Bag Lady
By: Mary Yang
Tags: Fashion, Culture, Gear

Find this original post on Cyberbabble.

I have to start by saying, I hate carrying multiple bags.

As a female with an established career in the tech industry, I am stoutly feminist in my perspectives and opinions. But there is one quality of life issue where I wish I had it as easy as men. I envy men and the multitude of options available to organize their technical gadgetry. I glance longingly at rugged black backpacks with multiple pockets of varying sizes and run my hands across slim, brown leather messenger bags with just the right number of pen slots and side pockets that perfectly fit their phones and cool aviators. I get an essential sense of whom I’m dealing with if a man has a black Swiss Army backpack, a Timbuktu messenger bag, a Jack Spade briefcase, or a Herschel backpack. And while some men likely worry about the look of their bag, the thousands of options (some customizable!) means they can find something that’s pretty damn close to conveying a slice of their personality — without also having to worry that it won’t look professional enough (because, you know, men in tech).

I have grappled — and in many ways, continue to grapple — with the search for a perfect bag: one that both matches and projects my professional status while being able to move seamlessly from day to night, that straddles the line between boring-professional and quirky-professional, that is generally inoffensive but also provides a hint to my personality. I know. It’s a lot to ask for a single bag. But, as I started out saying, I hate carrying multiple bags. Maybe it’s because I’m short, so having more than one bag makes me look as though I’m going to fall over. It’s more likely because I’d have two things to worry about instead of just one (“wait, I had two bags…where did I put the one with my laptop!?”)

It doesn’t help that I’m a bit unorganized generally (studies have shown that messiness mean you are smarter!) And I know that if I didn’t care about being somewhat fashionable (let’s be honest, I’m never going to be supermodel or Insta-star fashionable), while “dressing for the position I want” (ahem, CEO), then any old bag would likely do. Even a backpack, maybe. But I also hold fast to the belief that it shouldn’t be impossible to find one bag to rule them all. I mean, if men can have a bag to do it all, why can’t women?

What’s in a bag?

For a while now, I’ve simply thrown all my stuff into a one-pocket tote of some kind. This includes:

2 work machines/laptops and smartphones (yes, multiples of each)

Kindle

Wallet

Sunglasses

Portable charger & cord(s)

Bluetooth headset

Earbuds

Makeup bag

Allergy meds

Nalgene or water bottle

Pen(s) and notepad

Sometimes, I throw my gym shoes and workout clothes in it, and in the winter, you can probably find gloves, a hat, and a scarf. My bag goes with me to work, to happy hour, to physical therapy appointments, to alumnae events after work, etc. (See the last photo for my current bag, unpacked!) This also means that I’m really rough on my bags.

Most recently, I was using a black Michael Kors tote. It wasn’t all that interesting (it was a gift), but it served its purpose. That is, until the handles of the bag literally snapped off one day after physical therapy. Trying to get home on the Metro with that bundle was nothing short of a miracle.

Finding The One

I made do with a large satchel purse for a while, with a couple of compartments, but it was never quite a good fit. I thought about just using a backpack, but I love the feel and look of a purse on my arm, and, if I’m being honest, I’m not quite hip enough to pull off a backpack look. Over time, I’ve learned that carryalls, with no internal dividers, are a recipe for disaster (“Sorry, ignore that tampon that flew out of my bag with my laptop”).

So, I started searching for a tote. They are typically more professional by design but can also have a bit of personality. I settled on a few bag requirements, broken into “must-have” and “nice-to-have” categories:

Must-Haves:

Large tote (medium ones are not quite big enough)

Multiple compartments, including a padded section for a 13” laptop and enough room for a wristlet/wallet

Zippered compartment for valuable items

Sturdy, rolled handles with some metal fasteners to the bag

Less than $200 (When you’re as rough on your bags as I am, you learn that spending more than $200 on a bag is silly. You’ll only cry when the handles inevitably break.)

Not too structured (so it can be folded and placed into my luggage without too much damage to the integrity of the bag)

Nice-to-Haves:

Small side compartments for phone, Bluetooth headset, keys, or sunglasses

High quality leather

A pop of color or something unique

I know what you’re thinking: this isn’t an insane list of requirements. But you’d be amazed at how hard it has been to find a bag that checks all these boxes. Google will return 59,400,000 results in less than a second when you search for “perfect tote for women.” These options are often hundreds (some even thousands) of dollars, and many lacked some of the must-have requirements on my list. Only a handful of brands (Dagne Dover, Kate Spade, Coach, Cuyana, etc.) offered options that could work.

I’m still old school enough to want to touch and feel a bag before I buy it, especially if it’s going to cost me more than $50. That meant Dagne Dover and Cuyana were out of the running, as there weren’t any locations nearby for me to test out the bags. In my search at a local Coach store and outlet, I couldn’t find any options with internal dividers and a padded laptop compartment.

The perfect tote…for now

A recent trip to the Finger Lakes yielded better results. The Kate Spade store had a few options: a black pebbled leather tote with blush trim, a blush pebbled leather tote with black trim, and a few black and white totes. All options had multiple compartments, including a zippered, padded laptop section in the middle of the purse.

After a half hour of carrying multiple options on my arms and having several sales staff and other customers weigh in, I walked out with an unstructured, black pebbled leather tote with blush trim. With two major compartments, an internal, zippered padded laptop compartment in the middle of the bag, and a little pop of color with the blush trim, it was as close to perfect as I could get in a single bag.

Do you carry multiple bags, or do you also strive for one bag to rule them all? What have you found that’s worked for you? Leave me comments and links to your favorite work & play bag!