Trendy School Bag

[amainaledi]

I have promised DD a new school bag for when she starts secondary school in a couple of weeks. Can anyone recommend a brand that is perceived to be "cooler" than any other brand? She will have to travel some distance, so I am thinking a backpack might be best, but really don't want to saddle her with something that will embarrass her. I'm told that the kind of bag you have is "hugely important" because the school has a strict uniform policy and so bags are the only means of expressing fashion. Obviously, in the end, she is going to make the decision herself, but I'd like to be able to guide her using the wealth of knowledge from all you who have trod this path before...

stripeybump - just seen your post. I have no particular aims for my dd's future earning potential. I do however hope she does something that makes her happy.

I have never had the faintest interest in expensive bags and cannot begin to imagine why people desire them. If I was a multimillionaire I would buy a bag I liked (as I do now) rather than one that cost a lot of money.

Where did you get your rather strange idea that things had to be expensive to be nice?

Academic and fashion conscious are not mutually exclusive, which is why I took umbrage at your post.

I agree, CeliaFate.

Comments like those of breadandbutter put the cause of feminism back 100 years.

It IS possible to be a fun-loving female who enjoys fashion AND have a brain y'know, bread.

My DD is a shining example

CeliaFate and Carrots, it's ok because bread could not be more wrong about my children; they have the best of everything - schools and bags included

I actually feel sorry for Bread's dd. She will be the one that the "slapper set" as dd calls them pick on/laugh about behind her back. I admire the attitude Bread but your kid is going to have to have nerves of steel.

So the "slapper set" are to be cultivated and their opinions respected?

No, SRP. DD couldn't careless what bag anyone else has, she wanted a gola type thing and thats what she has. Yes it is the current trend but she has gone for a limited edition design that she says when she came home yesterday no one else had. But there are kids out there who will comment on backbags etc, fine if your child has a thickskin but my dd would be in tears rather than answer the "bullies" back. Yes I have told her to toughen up but it is not always easy when you are an emotional person.

It's simply a case of equipping your child (materially and emotionally) as best you can to make their journey through school a lot smoother. If your dc don't give a stuff and can take any teasing they may endure, that's great.

I'd rather do whatever I can to smooth the way for my dc. If that means buying a certain bag or shoes (whithin my budget, I wouldn't overstretch myself or get into debt) then that's what I'll do.

CeliaFate you put it much more eloquently then me!

My dd is scouring eBay for a vintage carpet bag qt the moment.

Oh and she is at a very, very academic school!

My daughter has just started Y8.Back packs are in here! they all have RouteOne £11.99 variety of colours. Practical and easy to carry.

my son has this in Navy.

This bag is actually from the womens section

www.superdry.com/womens/bags/details/29216/vintage-logo-haversack

I love the ones on that Surfdome site

We had a new pupil in Secondary school come up with a Little Mermaid backpack. And everyone laughed at her. Obviously they were told not to laugh and it was explained to them that what kind of bag someone is carrying is no measure of their character ... but they still laughed. Obviously if the child in question isn't bothered, there's no concern, but I wouldnt want my child walking about with a bag that meant everyone laughed at them. Secondary school is hard enough.

In saying that, these Paul's Boutique bags are feckin horrible (albeit inexplicably popular) and there's no way I'd be paying £60 for a schoolbag!

I agree celticlassie, i don't like the Paul's Boutique bags, but DD has always had an eye for them.

Turns out hardly anyone else at school has one, but she just really likes them so at least she isn't being a sheep over it! It was also her birthday present, so i figured it is up to her what she chooses within the budget, even if it is tat like this.

I did offer to stick random bits of rag and sweetie wrappers on a Tesco carrier bag to get the same effect without spending £60 but she declined!

DD says some girls were complaining about their sore shoulders at the end of last week, they were going to change over to the other shoulder... so expects they'll have two painful shoulders by Friday, at age 11.

This was recounted with an extremely smug expression. But she's always been too weak to suffer for other people's pleasures.

£18 ruck sack, totally uncool DD.
If her much cooler younger sister wants a designer name it's simple "here is the current cost of a decent strong back pack. In 12 months you will be given the same sum of money again. If you want to buy anything stupidly expensive and/or not up to the job fine. You have pocket money."

it is frankly stupid to say that because you are smart you shouldnt worry about brands etc,
it is a natural thing for a teenager and indeed alot of adults to want the brand & fashion,
its harmless! and in no way atall does it make anyone dumb etc so dont suggest that...
my dd loves her jack wills, hollister & other brands and altho i cant always give her everything she wants, i try to give her what i can,
i

Wot no op?

Sorry, but my dd has the triple advantages of natural beauty (smug but weird genetics emoticon - certainly not from me), a rather gorgeous bag which I would happily use if she tires of it, and no 'slapper' set in sight at her school.

Are there really schools with 'slapper' sets at age 11??!

V V V glad my dd is not at a school like that. All her friends seem lovely. The fact that c 50% of the school is Asian may be a factor, I wonder? - maybe less of a 'slapper' ethic going on there?

Don't know - certainly, most of her friends have the regulation school rucksack with crest - as far removed from either trendy or slapperish as can be. Though undeniably v practical.

Since reading this thread, I've also looked at older girls on the bus. Distinct lack of brands there too.

I know some people may find it hard to imagine, but there are schools where having the 'right' bag isn't actually the denoter of one's social position, number of friends or 'cool' quotient. I know this because I went to one like that. We then chose a school for my dd that felt the same - I think going through adolescence is hard enough without overwhelming peer pressure about brands etc.

Re the really peculiar comment about feminism above - is the point of feminism that we we could be free to wear brands?? Really??

Why do some posters on this forum seem to equate beauty and fashion? They can be the same but need not be; I'd argue they can often be at opposite ends of the spectrum. Nowhere have I stated that my dd should or does have a hideous bag - it's rather elegant and beautiful. But she chose it based on her tastes, not on a straw poll of what every girl in the year had.

If feminism statated that women should renounce their right to individuality and instead become branded clones, following the fashion no matter how daft/overpriced/wear labels for their own sake, I must have missed that bit.

I imagined feminism was about having confidence in the beautiful woman you are, rather than sucking up everything corporate marketing departments can throw at you. But what do i know. Clearly, when y dd is ignored by the slappers and left out of all the slapper parties I shall be weeping into my downtrodden hanky. For what more could I aspire to for my 11-year-old daughter than that she hangs out with a slapper crowd.

Ahem.

Are there really people who want this for their dds??

Yikes.

bread - the point of feminism is that women should be allowed to make their OWN in all aspects of their lives - and that includes being able to enjoy fashion if they so choose. Or not if they don't want to.

Sorry if that offends you but actually i don't care that much what you think - I feel free to make my own choices in life and am bringing up my duaghter likewise.

And I find it offensive that you are calling my daughter a slapper just because she wants to have a fashionable handbag.

I hate to break it to you, but the ones who go off the rails are often those who have parents who insist on controlling every aspect of their lives even going so far as to dictate their tastes. They will definitely rebel in a BIG way.

Hi there
This is Carrot's daughter writing.
bread-I understand what you are saying about the fact that you don't want your DD(?) to have a designer (though PB isn't really full-on designer) bag just so she can be cool and have "the right bag" as you say just so that she can fit in but you are allowed to have a nice bag. A lot of people seem to be thinking (including you) that people only want to buy expensive bags for exactly that; the expense. But you are wrong. It is possible for people to buy an expensive bag because they LIKE the BAG and not just like THE LABEL. A lot of people at my school do not have very expensive bags but the people that do have expensive bags don't look down on them in any way. Also, I am confused as to what you are saying about your DD's (?) secondary school having a school bag. I haven't heard of any that do have a specific school bag even though I do realise that you have already made it clear that it is not a neccesity. And, if you are saying that your DD(?)'s friends all have the school crested bag then why don't you get your daughter to take it as well? If you want something based wholly on practicality then surely that would be the best decision, because presumably the school would be the most focused on that aspect?

I love this thread. I suffered complete capitulation at start of GCSE year this september in a new school when my gorgeous clever girl announced that the only bag that could possibly pass muster was a ridiculous (and IMO hideous and vaguely old lady) handbag from Top Shop. It may be relatively capacious but it is most definitely a handbag, and totally unsuitable. Sometimes you just have to roll with it. My only protest was to refuse to buy it and force her to beg her father to order it online.