I sometimes wonder if fashion gurus and designers have a summit meeting every so often to decide what trend to start next. If they do then I suspect that they deliberately pick the most uncool style they can imagine from the past and decide to promote that! There is no other explanation for the renaissance of one particular accessory which was a genuine toe curler in my youth but which has now resurfaced as the epitome of urban cool.

Bad Memories

I refer, of course, to the satchel. Back in the 1960’s and 1970’s the satchel was the preserve of school kids and was reserved only for school books and a pencil case. Nobody liked them and they were the embodiment of everything that was embarrassing and naff about school and school uniforms. No youngster with any pride would take their satchel anywhere other than school.  I hated the hideous model my mother proudly presented to me and couldn’t wait to see the back of the thing. Naturally when it did finally die it was promptly replaced by an even more unpleasant style which was larger and hence more noticeable.  This appalling tan coloured monstrosity was my equivalent of Quasimodo’s hump.

Unanswered Prayers

I prayed every day that the school bus would run over my satchel causing irreparable damage. I prayed more earnestly that I would be able to summon the courage to rebel against my mother’s purchases. Sadly the bus driver was studious in his driving and singularly failed to flatten any satchels, let alone mine, and my courage never amounted to much. I mustered little more than a pathetic whimper of protest and so the satchel stayed with me for far too long.

Blissful relief eventually arrived in the shape of the sixth form. Once you reached the last two years of school you could ditch the uniform and have a ceremonial burning of your satchel which could then be replaced by a trendy shoulder bag. I swore never to inflict a satchel on any youngster and relaxed in the sure and certain knowledge that I would never handle one again.

A New Era

Imagine my consternation when I discovered that satchels were all the rage and had become chic urban cool accessories for the new millennia. I would have remained horrified but here’s the thing. The satchel has been made over, vamped up, overhauled and reinvented. I discover to my eternal shock that I now like the things. Not the ones I used to drag to school. They would never be cool in a million years. The stylish designs I see today are another matter altogether and I actually think I should invest in one or indeed several.

New colours and a contemporary twist have turned the humble satchel into a very stylish shoulder bag with attitude and I like the whole idea. Having said that, were I to buy one, divine retribution would surely rein down on me as punishment for my previous less than gracious thoughts and the bag would doubtless end up under a bus!

Article by Sally Stacey