Every generation has had its collectible. In the 90’s, it was a souvenir t-shirt. The 2000’s had the I <3 NY sweatshirt. 2010’s came with their fair share of the cringey Live Laugh Love poster. Our parents had fridge magnets, coffee mugs and the slightly rusted keychains—often bought at gas stations in popular tourist destinations. The magnets, admittedly, remain timeless. Today, we have the tote.
Tote bags have had a facelift; it has gone from something you accidentally acquired at a conference or a staple in your car to bag your groceries to a tiny billboard for your personality. The calling card varies per archetype. The literati carry a Daunt Books green tote hauled from London or the infamous Paris Shakespeare & Co to show that they have in fact watched the Before Sunset trilogy. From an art kid to the architect will nonchalantly carry an obscure museum bag or tote from a biennale known to a select few. The overworked person with a lethal to-do list has a Trader Joe’s canvas tote. You get the drill.
Most of us have a slightly ridiculous collection of them stuffed into the back of our cupboards, hanging off door handles—multiplying mysteriously after every exhibition, book launch, holiday or trip to your local market. They are the easiest souvenir to acquire, the smartest free advertising a cultural institute can get, so much so, we have Uno reversed it; we now shell out a pretty penny for this!
So rather than asking which tote bag is best, let’s figure which tote are you?
ARIES—The MoMA Tote
Aries is the first sign of the zodiac— which makes complete sense considering that something inherently first about Aries. First to arrive. First to volunteer. First to decide everyone is taking the train instead of the cab: the type-A planner of every group trip. First to leave when everyone starts debating where to go next. The tote for Aries should therefore have no patience for visual indecision.
These colorful MoMA tote bags do the job. Graphic and cheerful, it has the confidence of an object that knows it is interesting without needing to explain its references. It has a point of view and more importantly, likes to get on with the day.
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TAURUS—The JW Anderson Cabas
Taurus gets a bad rap for being “materialistic,” when really they are just extremely committed to having a nice time.