When fashion people started carrying L.L.Bean's Boat and Totes en masse during the summer of 2022, they did it with a wink. The bags' canvas outers became a canvas for cheeky self-expression in work bag form: Ironic Boat and Totes, embroidered with "Birkin," "Full of It," or simply, "No ❤️," flooded TikTok and the front rows as a way to show one's personal style and sense of humor. I reported on the ironic tote trend for Harper's Bazaar and ordered my own, a mini tote with "scooped," an inside joke for journalists, in script on the outside.
Cut to two years and some change later. There's a new L.L.Bean Boat and Tote for fashion girls to send to their group chats, but this one has had an attitude adjustment. Instead of bitingly sarcastic or self-deprecating, it's quietly confident and charmingly practical. More importantly, it's the result of a collaboration with Tibi, a New York Fashion Week staple that's always understood how to dress women for real life while being themselves.
Tibi's rendition of the L.L.Bean Boat and Tote is much more than your standard-issue canvas bag, though it's just as sturdy and spacious as the classics. The single iteration available online at Tibi now features two long straps and a single, absolutely enormous compartment. There's a key ring on the inside and room to tote a 15" MacBook laptop.
Like I said: Very similar to the classics, in terms of its utility-focused features. But in terms of the overall look, this bag ascends to another level. Tibi founder and creative director Amy Smilovic first teased the $475 style on the Spring 2024 runway, where it wasn't carried like a tote bag at all. Instead, a clever handle sewn to the bottom allowed models to nestle it close to their sides like an extra-extra large clutch. And then there's the most distinctive detail of all: a black leather belt with a double loop.
Carried with strapless black dresses and slouchy, nonchalant crewneck sweaters, Tibi's L.L.Bean tote looked nothing little like its witticism-embroidered cousins perched by editors' feet in the front row. It didn't need to shout to seem like a confident choice. I imagined the models wearing them had entire lives neatly packed inside and cool places to take them. And their senses of humor? Just as sharp as an ironic tote-carrier's, but maybe not so attention-seeking.
Many months of daydreaming about the bag after the runway show later, I got to carry the L.L.Bean and Tibi tote myself. I filled it with miniature quilted makeup bags, chargers, and my work laptop; I clipped my own emotional support charms to the buckle (a leather strawberry and a row of beads). It perches neatly on top of my roller bag when I travel, and it hangs at precisely the right length when I tote it to and from the office—where I've brought it every day for the past month.
In a short time, this bag has usurped all the others in my closet. It's more anonymous than a celebrity-favorite Madewell find (though I could easily imagine Hailey Bieber carrying one to Rhode HQ). While it's spacious, it's not so utilitarian that I'd be embarrassed to lug it to an after-work event, laptop and all. The L.L.Bean tote by way of Tibi is my holy grail bag for 2024. No joke.
