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Flaunt your trendy totes

ACCESSORY
Last Updated 28 December 2012, 12:39 IST

Tote bags have evolved in a variety of exotic avatars, writes Meera Seshadri

If you watch the old Hindi flicks, you can see Bollywood female stars showing off their swanky, stone-studded clutches and spiffy sling-bags, as they sizzled and sashayed on silver screens, in their splendid apparels. But today, you find the Bollywood stars, on and off screen, flaunting their eye-catching tote bags that have indeed evolved in exotic avatars.

Earlier, totes were those unostentatious looking heavy-duty bags with sturdy parallel handles, which were generally used during shopping expeditions. Thanks to growing fashion awareness among women that created need for bigger bags, which besides looking uber trendy, could also hold umpteen things needed on a regular basis. And lo! The stylish totes fitted the bill to a T.

Says Soumya Gannerkote, a software professional, staying in Gurgaon, “Being an irredeemable shopaholic with fetish for totes, often I set out on shopping sorties, scouting for some splendiferous totes. Here in Delhi, many folks are brand conscious, and wouldn’t mind splurging mega bucks on snazzy bags from Gucci, Esbeda, Hi-Design, et al. But I don’t mind even low-end totes, if they are prepossessing. I heavily patronize shops in Sarojini Nagar, a veritable haven for bags. My other haunts are Lajpat Nagar, Karol Bagh, and Janpath area, wherein you sight the ethnic varieties”.

“Our Gurgaon I can say is the Mall City of our Country, as you find proliferation of malls. Nestled inside are plethora of stores with panoply of bag varieties, available for paltry prices. I often frequent the nearby mall, and try selecting such totes that can accommodate lots of my personal things like my snack-box, water-bottle, mobile-charger, umbrella, make-up items, perfume, shades, I-pod, story-book, etc, etc. My totes are like “Akshaya Patra” - the more things you take it out, the more you find”, she adds.

Informs Vasudha Mahishi, “My daughter Anjana, working in HSBC in French Process Dept, has inordinate passion for totes. Whether I’m on abroad junketing, or short holiday jaunts, from every place I pick totes for her. She prefers the ones in neutral colours, also in subdued hues. Interestingly, you can behold a mini stationary shop in her bag. Among zillion things she stores, you find a Swiss-knife, nail-clipper, papers, pens, scissors, tissues, also cosmetics, toiletries, etc. Her tote is like the human abdomen, you can’t surmise what is inside!” 

“That’s why for regular use totes, she chooses those in canvas-cotton, jute-cotton, etc, which won’t easily fray, or cause rips/rents. She has penchant for good leather totes too that even after long use, don’t form fluff like debris, and flake off. This time when I’m visiting my son Niranjan in New Delhi, doing Post Graduate studies at AIIMS, I’m planning to go around the city to trawl through different varieties, to ferret out few good ones for Anjana”, she adds.

Incidentally, today totes are available in myriad mind-boggling types in mesmerizing prints, materials, colours, shapes, sizes and designs, catering to every taste, budget and purpose. For instance, to picnics, beaches and other fun outings, you can opt for cotton totes in floral prints, graphic prints, block prints, and polka-dotted ones. There are those mould/moisture resistant, customised totes too, for specific uses, on which you can have your initials monogrammed, or company/college logo embossed, or any design you fancy emblazoned.

Then you have faux/foam leather totes that have ornamental value rather than functional, flashed during bashes and mega social events. These are bedazzling types, beautifully bedecked with baubles, beads, quirky buttons, spangles, swarovski, trinkets, etc. And some multiple compartment totes have lovely trims, snap-button/magnetic-flap closures, fancy zippers, buckles, and other fastener details. You also get hand-painted totes, made of fibres, and other recycled materials. Even pebbled-surfaced synthetic ones are groovy.

Finally remember, there are totes meant for new mothers too, wherein one can carry baby’s feeding-bottle, napkins, pacifier, rattler and other paraphernalia. So, with these fashion fundas on fetching totes, take off on a flight of fashion fantasy, to flaunt your fabulous totes.

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(Published 28 December 2012, 12:39 IST)

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