I want to share something special with you.On first glance, this might look like just a regular bag. But it’s not. This bag is something special. It’s something special because it’s taken me right back to where I was 18 years ago, when I was 20 years old.
At 20 years of age, halfway through my degree in Psychology at The University of Manchester, I found myself window shopping in Selfridges. I remember the moment that I saw the bag. It was just off being square, a green that was deep, but not dark and it had a green woven handle that could be extended and shortened at will. It was also more than £100. I think it was £121 but I’m not sure. I know that it was the better part of my student loan instalment. But I had to have it. I bought it. And I kept that bag for more than 10 years – I used it for more than 10 years. It was starting to peel, it had a hole in it and still, I loved using it. I felt like the coolest person in the world with that bag. I let it go – in fact I think it was literally put in the bin when I was pregnant and we were clearing out to make room for our new team member. I’ve regretted it ever since. If I had it now, I’d frame it. I’d keep it for framing because it shared so much of my life with me – ups, downs and everything in between.
The bag was from a designer that wasn’t well known at that point – a woman called Orla Kiely. She’s been around for quite a while, has our Orla. And now of course, she’s mainstream. I remember showing an Orla oilcloth bag to someone influential at John Lewis. She was aghast that people would pay the prices of an expensive leather bag for something that was oilcloth! I was beyond chuffed when Orla made it to their stores a little while later and is now a huge seller for them.
So, when I saw this style of bag coming up – one with padding, and in the same colour pallet as my beloved green bag, I knew I wanted to have one. But which would I go for? What would work? And would green mean I was being unfaithful to the memory of my original, inaugural Orla piece? I plumped for the rucksack – great for work, great for being out and about with the boys and zipped so I could use it confidently when travelling for work. Here it is.
I know, it doesn’t look like much. But to me, it’s the start of me getting back to where I was 18 years ago – a time where I hadn’t yet become jaded by working for large, behemoth organisations that brought new meaning to the world “inflexible”. A time where I didn’t understand the issues of mortgages and buy to let juggling. A time where I was worried that my cute italian style bunches weren’t balanced. No really, I worried about that. I was pert, slim and trim and had no bags under my eyes! Those were the days, my friend….
So. Here’s to my new bag. Here’s to new adventures and the making of lots of new memories with it….
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