What’s In Your Bag?
A trendsetter’s love for capturing individuality through personal items has its origins within the abandoned realms of the internet, foreshadowing a culture of digital materialism.
Courtesy of BUZZIPPER/T. Jackson/BACKGRID, available via Highsnobiety © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
Looming in the original visual blogging sites like WeHeartIt, Flickr, and Xanga was the birthplace of digital consumerism and viral phenomenons. Following the boom of these platforms in the mid-2000s, users sought to tailor a distinctive identity and share pieces of their lives with others through images. The #WhatsInMyBag trend was one among many tags that internet gurus utilized to indulge their sense of materialism and belonging in the whirlwind of cyberspace. Upon scouring through these long-lost pictures on the now obsolete Flickr, one will find themselves wafted over by the sweet scent of nostalgia— finding a collection of unique remnants from the past, often peppered with honest depictions of girlhood and community.
So how did the spillage of contents inside the humble purse spark such a web craze? We can attribute much of its roots to the early beauty community of YouTube, where creators like MichellePhan, BubzBeauty, MacBarbie07, and many more dominated the platform. These vloggers (or the OG influencers) garnered a large yet intimate community to share makeup, fashion, and lifestyle tips. Viewers would eagerly nestle by a computer to watch the pixelated women's discourse, where the topic of sharing everyday items in their purses became a popular way to showcase a more personal side of themselves. Such a video appearing on the feed of these YouTube icons felt like a big sister opening the doors to her room; whether it was sifting through their bedazzled iPod and favorite magazine, or finally knowing that shade of their holy-grail lipstick, viewers would relish in knowing these little treasures within their bags. The video ritual trickled down to the blogs where it morphed into the #WhatsInMyBag tag and the camera-shy rejoiced. Social media junkies scrambled to sprawl out their personal belongings on the floor in a perfectly imperfect way, including the “accidental” crumpled receipts and stray coins. Girly or tomboy, party animal or tech nerd, neat freak or chaotic mess… whatever it was, personality oozed through each participant’s bag contents. *click!*
And thus, another form of digital voyeurism was born. As the web’s existence was still relatively fresh and its future ambiguous, it made sense for #WhatsInMyBag to have taken off when it did. There was little need to hide just yet, and such a photo trend was a stepping stone for people to begin curating their virtual identities. It transformed items that typically went unnoticed in daily routine into a compelling visual narrative, as people gave away their dearest habits and hobbies (strewn with traces of oddly revealing paraphernalia…) to the curious eyes of the world. By being able to manicure a certain status or lifestyle through material possessions, a #WhatsInMyBag picture soon became an emblem of who a person was, or at least, who they wanted to be. An observer of these images could almost decipher what each participant looked like, how they might have dressed, or what music they might have enjoyed. Every capture took on a sort of artistic form, hand-signed by the owner’s quirks themselves— not one mosaic felt replicated or commercial, characteristics that notoriously plague our current media.
Today, we are ever surrounded by the not-so-needed details of people’s lives and well near drowned in it. A glimpse into someone’s bag might be the least intrusive method of media gluttony we have, considering how much celebrity/influencer culture we consciously or unwittingly consume. Some iterations have been made to quench this thirst, such as British Vogue’s ‘In The Bag’ video series, where Charli XCX’s interview trended heavily as a template on TikTok for thousands to share their stashes. It's no surprise that the youth still yearn for any opportunity to share bits and bobbles of their lives with E-friends, where the faithful hashtag can give them some semblance of a social etching. #WhatsInMyBag lives on, though the photos under it are no longer an amateur clutter but more so a collection of polished advertisements. Each item inside the average bag is chosen with intention: a blatant promo of a self-help book, designer sunglasses placed just so, or the latest skincare product that screams bougie— all to match one’s flawless online branding. In a time where we are socially omniscient, it can be difficult to not want to hide behind the veil of perfection. Nevertheless, there’s always a bit of the harmless exposé that slips through; it's not a #WhatsInMyBag snapshot without a hint of spontaneous authenticity, where our personalities go to show through the miscellany we just can’t seem to let go of.
