Back-to-School Series Pt. 1: Back-to-School Baggage

Elle Vandenberg
Aug 13, 2023
2 min read

Some love the idea of school, and some hate it. I’m so grateful I am able to even go to school, much less a nice private school. But it does come with its downsides. The uniform requirements are the absolute worst. Ok, well I’m just being dramatic, but ugh! While many staff members, parents, and alumni would disagree, the requirements for our skirt lengths are insane. I know you’re probably magically asking yourself the question I’m going to answer in this article, “How in the world do your accessories to personalize your everyday, drab, ugly uniform?!” Perfect timing because I’m here to give you some ideas. This series will cover everything from backpacks to the very shoes on your feet. It just makes sense when everything is coherent and still looks chic and fresh.

The major one everyone will notice first is the backpack. I personally love clean silhouettes and solid colors. It sounds boring, but when second semester rolls around, you’re probably going to regret buying that bright pink paisley backpack. Having a backpack that looks timeless is perfect, because you can splurge on a nice one and keep it for years to come.

The very first one I would recommend is the North Face Women’s Jester Backpack in cream. I carried this one for FOUR years. She had a very good run, but towards the end her zippers broke, and she was DIRTY. That was my first “nice” backpack, and it was so good to me!

The North Face Women's Jester Backpack

Next is the backpack I just bought. I love this one so much. It’s clean and simple and just beautiful. It is the Vera Bradley Campus Backpack in navy with silver zippers. This backpack is smaller than the jester but still fits everything, even my massive laptop.

Campus Backpack

I added some personality to the backpack by decorating safety pins with pearl and letters beads and pinning them on.

The Stoney Clover Classic Backpack has recently become very popular. Although it can be very expensive after personalization’s it’s definitely worth it. I really like the white and navy, simple but classy colors. I made a sample version on their website with my name, and it was the cutest!

Classic Backpack

For the white backpack, I would probably use white patches to sign my name on it as well!

The Lululemon New Crew Backpack 22L is very nice. This backpack is very durable just like the north face bag and is great for carrying heavy books. The black is simple and has a sleek, barely-there Lululemon logo.

New Crew Backpack 22L

If you’re not a fan of carrying a backpack, I absolutely adore the Longchamp Le Pliage Original L Tote Bag. This tote bag fits so much! Although I don’t have the large, I still can carry a lot of stuff in the smaller version too. This bag is just great and has never given me problems.