Not just any old bag: as handbags have shrunk, the tote has taken over | Jess Cartner-Morley

Be it a supermarket, the latest Sally Rooney novel or a posh butcher's, the tote bag is a declaration of values for an age when principles come with merchNaturally neither you nor I are the type to brandish ostentatious handbags that flaunt their brand provenance in a showy-offy manner. That wouldn't do at all, would it? We wouldn't dream of being so brash. Latching our tribal identity to the shops we spend money in? As if!Except... wait a minute. I've just looked down at the bag sitting under my desk in the office. Not my handbag, but my overspill tote bag. This morning it held my water bottle and a dress to drop at the dry cleaners; on the way home I'll need it when I pick up bits for dinner. The name Ginger Pig is emblazoned in flamboyant script across its sturdy, oaty linen. The Ginger Pig is a posh butcher's shop. In smaller letters, it proclaims "Butchers & Farmers of Rare Breeds Reared on the North York Moors", which sounds a lot fancier than the vegetable curry I am actually going to cook tonight. Continue reading...