what's in my bag 2012

Welcome to 2012, the year when Gangnam Style took over, Carly Rae Jepson told us to call her maybe, and people legitimately thought the world was going to end. Social media sites like Tumblr and Instagram were still cool and fun, and you can definitely see the impact of the latter in some of the more minimal, heavily filtered photos below. It's interesting to see how 2013 minimalism begins creeping into the trend cycle—the bags and accessories become more simple and less colorful here, save for a few Vera Bradley wristlets and wallets.  

In 2011, it wasn't uncommon to see people carrying two to three phones/iPods in their bag, and what's interesting is that the same is still seen in 2012. With Apple being more popular than ever, you'd think that people would downsize to just an iPhone. But, people were instead including iPads and e-readers in their daily carries, in addition to their iPhones, iPods, and soon-obsolete Blackberries. Those bags must have been heavy.  

Looking back, I remember 2012 felt like such an exciting year. Technology felt fresh and innovative, not like a harbinger of hyper-capitalist death. It feels like these photos represent a tipping point where social media and Apple fully grasp our culture.....and we can see how well that turned out. At least Flickr lets us escape to simpler times:  

Hello Kitty never goes out of style

All the older girls at ballet had that same vera bradley card holder and I thought they were so cool and mature because of it.  

This guy was a fucking hipster.  The Susan Sontag is the cherry on top.

Looking at old vera bradley patterns makes me feel so safe

I wanted one of the Diana F+ from lomography soooo bad after seeing it in an Elle Fowler video

I vividly remember begging my mom for that B.B. cream at target

The Rebecca Minkoff Mini Mac bag had a chokehold on me during this era

 

what's in my bag: 2011

continuing with the (accidental) 2011 theme this week, I've dug through the repositories of flickr to find some what's in my bag photos that I think best represent the ~vibes~ of that year. As these images recall, we were wearing vera bradley wallets and chunky silicon bracelets, listening to music on ipods with flimsy wire headphones, and applying copious amounts of bath and body works hand sanitizer as often as we could. it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. or something like that. 

take a look at one some people on flickr carried with them in the year 2011: 

what's in my bag: 2010

Welcome to 2010, the year that brought us Instagram, meat dresses, and the swine flu. Social media was still about sharing embarrassing photos of your friends, malls are still a cool place to hang out, and side parts are everywhere. 

the actual definition of iconic

The most defining trend I noticed in people's handbag contents is the popularity of Apple devices. Say goodbye to clunky flip phones, the new generation of tech had arrived. While some people still clung onto their blackberries and nokias, they paired them with ipod touches wrapped in white headphones. 

2010 was, I think, a good year. we were half way through obama's first term, and culturally, there was a general sense of hope. technology was getting better, we were more connected than ever before, and things seemed to progressing in the right direction. A shame it all fell apart. 

But I digress. Looking at these photos, I'm reminded of what I used to carry in my backpack back in the day - namely orbit gum, an ipod shuffle, headphones, and a copy of teen vogue. what did you carry back then?

the bath and body works hand sanitizer gives me war flashbacks to middle school 

the nintendo....the flip cam.....the field notes......

my friend had that same vera bradley wristlet

I had the same ipod. not sure why I went with yellow. my favorite color back then was blue. 

sorry but evian water is god tier

rip nylon </3

the polaroids....the apple sticker on the notebook...exactly