The Most Famous Shopping Bags in the World

New York, NY . . . Bloomingdale's is widely credited for pioneering nearly every major change in the evolution of American retailing. From the beginning, the store has been at the forefront of everything new, including ways to market itself that were upbeat, innovative, imaginative and highly successful. None is more emblematic than the chronicle of its shopping bags.

In 1922, years before there were such things as "shopping" bags, Bloomingdale's printed an anniversary message to thank its customers on the face of its small brown paper bags. It was far from great art, but it was the store's first recognition that the bags in which its merchandise was carried could be used to make a statement about the store itself.

The shopping bags we use today, expansive paper sacks with strong twisted handles, weren't manufactured until the mid-1950's, and Bloomingdale's adopted one in 1954. The design was pleasantly innocuous: a rose on one side, a gloved hand with an umbrella on the other, and the store's old-fashioned script signature. With slight variations, this design was used throughout the fifties. It changed color each year and, at Christmas, the rose and umbrella were replaced with a sprig of evergreen and a candy cane.

In 1961, Bloomingdale's held the first of its storewide import fairs, as they were then known, and found reason to tinker with their bags once again. It commissioned artist Jonah Kiningstein to create a special shopping bag for the occasion. The promotion, "Espirit de France," might have suggested ladylike flowers in pastel colors, but the artist instead reproduced antique French tarot-cards, in bold red, black and white. Most daring of all, the bag flagrantly omitted the store's name. Still, it was unmistakably Bloomingdale's. The bags were an instant hit, and the collector's shopping bag was born.

For the next three decades, artists, architects, photographers, graphic designers, and even fashion designers created the bags, raising the medium to the level of fine art. Most bags were seasonal, but some came back for repeat performances. Specific bags were developed for use within specific departments, such as the Au Chocolate bag, and the bag that launched The Main Course for housewares. Still others were created for new store openings and were only used in that specific location. Most did not include Bloomingdale's name, but there was no question from which store they had come.

The most famous bag of all-- Bloomingdale's iconic Big Brown Bag - first hit the streets in 1973. It seemed that the linen department needed a really big bag to hold the increasingly larger and more luxurious pillows and blankets that were becoming popular. The Little Brown Bag followed naturally a year later, for cosmetics and accessories. The Medium Brown Bag was the final addition to form the trio used today. In 1998 the store's website address was added at the base of the side panels.

Various examples of these historic bags can be seen to this day in museum collections around the world; and their photos are featured in Bloomingdale's stores nationwide adorning hallways, elevator lobbies, and executive office areas.

Bloomingdale's is America's only nationwide, full-line, upscale department store; and a division of Macy's, Inc. It was founded in 1872 and currently operates 39 stores in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Illinois, Minnesota, Georgia, Florida, Nevada and California; and will open its 40th store in Chevy Chase, Maryland later this year. For more information, or to shop any time, visit www.bloomingdales.com.

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