Tote-al Do's and Dont's

The other day I saw a woman with a tote made with quilted fabric-college sports team fabric. Now this would have looked very cute-sporty even had she been at a game. I mean I personally don’t get the need to support a team by emblazoning myself with their logo, but I understand that some people do! Anyway, the problem I had is that she was dressed in a very nice outfit, obviously headed to the office, using this fabric sports team tote to ferry her items to work. It just ruined her look.

I see it everyday - ladies taking their lunch, extra shoes etc. to work in ugly totes, sometimes even plastic grocery bags (shudder). Yes, I understand Wisconsin is not the fashion capital of the world, but that doesn’t mean we have to lose all respect!

Come on ladies, pinky swear with me-”I will use a nice looking tote to take my stuff to work.” You are all dressed for work, wearing good clothes, good shoes, and carrying a nice handbag. You spoil the whole thing by having an ugly tote or worse yet, a ratty, plastic bag hanging off your arm. It isn’t just sports team logos that ruin the look, it is bags with overly cutesy themes: puppies, canvas bags that are dirty, and the worst tote bags that have photos (usually of the family) on them.

Admit it, we spend a lot of time making sure that our outfits and jewelry project the right professional image, so how come we tend to forget that our tote is part of that image? Let’s start taking that extra step and put effort into choosing a nice looking tote bag.

So from now on the rule is-A patchwork bag that proclaims our love of a certain sports team is fine for the weekend trip to the stadium. Not for bringing our planner et al to the office!! Agreed?

There are many fantastic totes out there in all shapes, sizes and colors (and yes-prices). I myself, prefer a sleek, single color tote. I usually play it safe with black. But feel free to mix it up with a little color! Just remember NO sports teams, NO cute kitty faces and NO pictures of your children emblazoned on the side of the bag.

~ Jennifer Flaten