Shopping Bags

/ November 16, 2011
The über cool Colette in Paris is clearly a destination for boutique lovers. The logo—two bold dots—changes color with the seasons. If only to carry a designer bottle of water, this is a bag to own.

The über cool Colette in Paris is clearly a destination for boutique lovers. The logo—two bold dots—changes color with the seasons. If only to carry a designer bottle of water, this is a bag to own.Slideshow

The subtle name on the back side of the bag. It really is about the dots. An early Gucci bag when red and green was a signature for them. After Tom Ford arrived everything became a bit more subtle and a large G became the icon. Those of us who remember Bonwit Teller mourn its loss. At its core, it was feminine and classy. The lovely violet bouquets were reflective of the attitude of the store. The General Trading Company of London with four royal warrants; from the Queen, the Queen Mother, Prince Phillip and Prince Charles. Definitely worth a trip to explore their wares. This bag created quite the sensation when it was introduced in 1977 by Bloomingdales. A sleek gorgeous girl with a great smile parading on the streets of New York was an innovation. This was another creative innovation from Bloomingdales. It was a departure from their iconic brown bag that hit the streets in 1973.
Conran's was one of the first to take modern international design in home fashion and make it accessible to middle class modern living. This bag was introduced in 1997 when they opened their shop in the Michelin building in London. It's colorful graphics make a bright statement on the street. This bag was developed for the New York branch of the Japanese retailer. Its' triangular shape is unique and it was worth it to purchase some tea so that you could carry the bag. Sadly, the store closed last year. Black and white seductive photography is a great advertisement for any travel magazine. The quality of the printing and paper make this a desirable bag to own. Side 2 of the Travel & Leisure bag above. Lovely, ladylike Jo Malone has created a classic soft cream colored bag with black trim to hold her delightful fragrances. Carole tells me this is an important bag so I included it for her!
This is the prize of her collection. It was created for an exhibition called the "Supermarket Show" celebrating the Pop Art Movement. I'm not sure which is more famous, the bag or the store. The brown and white striped bag is synonymous with Henri Bendel and has survived new owners and a move down Fifth Avenue. This is NOT the bag from a ladies lingerie store. It is the bag of a famous London shirtmaker. This bag is new to this brand and within its first year 500,000 were on the streets of the US, England and Ireland.

My dearest friend, Carole Glaser, has long been a collector of many things, none of them precious. There is the great grouping of candlesticks on her dining table, quirky handmade ceramics in her kitchen, and a most notorious collection of hats and pins. And finally, there is the outstanding collection of shopping bags accumulated over many years. Many of her prized possessions trace the development of graphic and palette preferences as well advertising trends.

I thought this would be an easy post to photograph and write. But, Carole arrived at my office with 2 huge boxes of the most amazing bags and I could not decide which were my favorites; so this may be a 2 part series.

The great thing about shopping bags is that they are on every street in the world. They are portable works of art, status symbols, come in every size and shape imaginable, and designed and illustrated by the finest commercial artists. And, they are free! They are the ultimate homage to the much loved art of shopping. They can be classically simple (like the Colette bag) or highly stylized (like some of the early Bloomingdale’s bags).

Containers for hunting and gathering have been with us since prehistoric times. There were woven reed baskets, earthenware pots and animal skins. Skip a few thousand years to the mid-1800’s when the industrial revolution made the mass production of paper feasible and more available for wrapping packages. There is a bit of historical discrepancy about the inventor of the current sack we now call a shopping bag. It is clear, however, that it was developed to carry groceries and was made of brown paper. Early in the development process handles were added as well as pasted on decoration.

The bag continued to improve especially as logos became integral elements and printing techniques continued to improve. Like the ubiquitous tee shirt, matchbook cover and record album cover, the bag became a walking billboard. Leading artists are drawn to the medium (think the Andy Warhol Campbell’s soup can) and museums realized that they could not only offer reproduction gifts for their patrons but send them off with appropriately decorative shopping bags.

From sack to bag, from brown paper to highly decorative, the shopping bag has had a remarkable journey in a short period of time. How I wish I had saved some of my favorites, but alas they have been recycled!

Please note that next week is Thanksgiving and I will be busy getting ready for a family visit and the holiday. See you again on November 30th. Happy Holiday!

Barbara
bsallick@waterworks.com

 

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