More is DD BU? A flipping tote bag??? For School???

[thatcoldfeeling]

DD is starting year 9. She has just showed me the bag she wants for next year. A flipping leather look tote bag.

Apparently "everyone has them in year 9".

Seriously, what the actual fuck is this nonsense?

Her school does not have lockers and she walks to after school sports several days a week. She really wants to carry all her books and sports stuff in a tote bag!? AIBU to be entirely baffled, generally wtf, and completely reluctant to go along with this!?

*Note - Have just had a flashback to the fashion at school when I was a teen for wearing a rucksack on one shoulder only. That was shit. Maybe I am BU and carrying your stuff around with self induced difficulty is a feature of being a teen!?!?

@SpiritedLondon I am with you about the Michael Kors! I used to love his bags, now I can't go near them because all of my students have them...given the way they treat them I do hope they aren't real

Head bag for me starting secondary in year 9, and then a leather look messenger style bag after that. JD Sports drawstring carrier bag was all the rage at our school and rucksacks carried on both shoulders was strictly for French exchange students.

Deadheadstickeronacadillac
They aren't my style but I can't help but wonder if they're any good. I spend far too much time helping students repair broken handles and fastenings on them.

I do like Dune bags though.

These were the bags of choice at my school in the early 90s

I used to have the brightly coloured jelly bags for school 😃

Oh god mabel - what a blast from the past! I remember those too. I think I had one a bit like the second picture? I seem to remember it being sort of crispy nylon, possibly because it wasn't of the highest quality

Worn on one shoulder natch. This may be why a riding instructor once asked me if I had been in an accident at some point, as, my shoulders were so wonky

@deadheadstickeronacadillac (loving the name.... I saw the Grateful Dead years ago) I’ve noticed a few bag “tribes” over the years Paul’s Boutique, Cath Kitson and now Michael Kors. I cannot fathom why any school kid would want to be seen dead with a bag their mum would potentially carry. I mean a floral Cath Kitson tote does not say cool to me. I’m also pretty shocked that a parent would consider spending hundreds of pounds for a bag that’s going to get battered...even if it’s moody it’s an odd choice. If I was going to drop big money I’d much rather spend it on a Fjall Raven backpack ( god sorry don’t know how to spell that ) or something similar which is arguably cool AND practical.

Mid 70s, we did have satchels but with the strap v v short and carried on one shoulder. I had a two mile walk to school, no wonder I have one shoulder higher then the other!!

When I was at school, we all just had handbags (because we were obviously so mature and sophisticated) and then our books went in a carrier bag. But obviously a carrier bag from top shop/river island/new look/Jane Norman/a fancy shop abroad.

I was late-ish 90’s at high school, and when I first started it was the head bags (the bigger the better!) and then by year 9 it was the record bags (complete with tight laddering Velcro!!)
I would go with the tote. It seems a bit of a rite of passage, and some of the ones linked above actually look half practical.

When my younger sister was that age (now almost 20) every girl used a tote bag for their school bag and a Jane Norman shopping bag for their pe kit. The funniest part being that none of them shopped at Jane Norman... but they'd sometimes pretend their other shopping bag had broken and ask for one from their counter in Beatties .

I'm of the one shoulder rucksack gen myself, but I do just think it's a rite of passage.

Benetton duffel bag in my day. I wish you could still get them.

At 6th form college, everyone had these. Then carried folders clutched to their chests because the bags were too small for an A4 folder. Mine cost about £4 and was indestructible.

Haha good old army surpluses stores :)

I had a black and red rucksack, two zips that tan either side of a panel at the front, joined together with a strip of fabric and a Velcro flap at the top.

Cannot for the life of me remember the brand, and googling isn't helping either. I loved that bag!

I also had a canvas record bag at one point, and a one shoulder rucksack with a mobile phone pocket.

Totally normal. We made a rule where students had to be able to fit an A4 folder in their bag, which did mean at least they were a practical size.

When I first started teaching about a decade ago backpacks were deeply unfashionable and the ‘cool’ girls carried handbag-style bags that were far too small to be useful in the crook of their arm. I do see tote bags now but the majority of the girls now use backpacks. This year there were a fair few Fjallraven backpacks but also a range of different styles and brands.
The “cool” kids now are definitely more studious compared to a decade ago.
The fashion this year, especially among the GCSE age kids was for expensive brush markers, coloured pens and pastel coloured highlighters so that they could make Instagram-style notes. If your revision notes were in black biro and you had normal fluorescent coloured highlighter pens then you were deeply uncool. I’m quite pleased that the tiny bags trend is over but I’d also rather they concentrated on the content of their notes rather than spending hours perfecting their calligraphy just for the titles on their flash cards.

Found it!! Only mine didn't have Adidas printed at the top, just the "Predator" logo with the snarly eyes.

Including the picture would help!

This was the cool thing when I was at school. The straps always broke within the first week of having one. But it was better to carry the broken bag around than to have a rucksack (shock horror!).

A few years back there was a fad for Cath Kidston bags. Not cheap either. I have one for my knitting!

oh god kids were so cruel at school and thinking over what now makes me cringe and livid that people made others feel so small because of these things

At school in the 80s I always had a rectangular canvas tote, usually bought from Debenhams and in a 'trendy' maroon shade. Roy Cropper off Corrie style!

@zoflorabore I remember those benetton bags. They were huge. All the girls at my school used to carry their pe kits around in a 'Shelley's' bag. Do you remember those?

I would let her have the bag. All the girls i see on way/coming home from work have these tote bags.

My eldest carries a backpack. This year she’s not bothering with a new one as she has rediscovered her canvas army surplus style bag she was given by my friend. It’s in the process of being covered in her large collection of band patches. It’s a backpack too. She hasn’t got time or the inclination to follow the fads of the fashionable crowd, she wouldn’t be able to schedule in enough eye-rolling to cope.

The people she despises carry totes and handbags. The crowd she hangs with are all backpack types. There doesn’t seem to be any difference in learning ability, it’s just differences in fashion.

I used a backpack or a record bag at school. I gave zero fucks for fashion though. Still don’t to be fair. Currently use a vans backpack I found in tk maxx for my day to day needs. Unless it’s raining I really need to find a waterproof backpack.