Photos: Chris Emeott
Regardless if the excursion is near or far, a trip to a hotel, museum or tourist destination gift shop is a must for even the most well-seasoned traveler among us. But how many magnets, mugs or marginal T-shirts can one collect? For Brookie Brandt, her visits around the country and abroad are memorialized in a rather unique way.
Brookie Brandt
Brandt, a project manager with Katie Brandt Interiors in Spring Park, has amassed at least 100 shopping bags. It all started with a mentor of sorts. Around high school age, Brandt started collecting perfume tester cards because she was drawn to their designs, not scents! While discussing her growing collection with a client of her mother’s, they bonded over their love of marketing tools—perfume samples and shopping bags. “She encouraged me to start my collection,” Brandt says. “I was lucky enough to be able to sift through her collection, and she gifted me a few very special old bags that I just love.”
Brookie Brandt appreciates more than unique and well-designed shopping bags. “Coming from the marketing world, I am attracted to pretty and interesting marketing materials,” she says, noting that she once collected perfume sample cards, making a glass-topped table with them when she was younger.
Since then, Brandt has built upon her collection, which organically aligns with her love of design—from her work in interior design to appreciating smaller concepts created on shopping bags. “I always had a hard time throwing the shopping bags away when traveling because they all had such a special story to them,” she says. “When I studied abroad in London, I had to buy an extra suitcase to make sure they all made it back home.”
Any collector has a few favorites, so what is the grande dame of Brandt’s collection? “I have a very special one from Dolce & Gabbana from [its] holiday collection that has a button on the inside, and the front of the bag lights up,” she says. “It’s magical!” Brandt recalls another gem. “One of my favorite artists, Donald Robertson, did a bag for [fashion director Linda Fargo’s] boutique at Bergdorf Goodman where he sketched Linda on the bag. It’s so much fun,” she says.
While Brookie Brandt dreams of framing and displaying her shopping bag collection on a gallery wall, for now, it is stored, waiting for a time to make a perfectly curated reappearance.
What falls into the most unusual category? “I have some very old ones from Bloomingdale’s,” Brandt says. “I am not sure if they are original or one of the first shopping bags they did, but they are so intricate and special. I also love my plastic ones from Scoop in Chicago that are all multicolored. I used to use them as lunch bags when I was little. I thought they were so cool.”
Part of the fun of collecting is the hunt—the search for the must-have addition. “Of course, any fashion girlie would love to add a Hermès classic orange bag to their collection,” Brandt says. “I do have one from my mom’s client that is super special, but I would love to one day purchase something and get one on my own.” She also points to Rue Cambon, the historic Paris street that is home to Chanel’s flagship store and where, in 1910, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel opened her first boutique, which she lived above. Brandt dreams of procuring the location’s exclusive white shopping bag (as opposed to the brand’s classic black and white design). “That would be a special addition,” she says.
“Anything that has a special story connected to it or is pretty and well designed,” Brookie Brandt says of her collection parameters. “Any and all bags are welcome in the collection,” especially those that underscore a memorable experience or mark a moment spent with friends or family.
As one knows, shopping bags typically have partners—purchased items, tucked inside for the retail ride. But Brandt doesn’t always have to ring up with a cashier before walking away with another bag. “There are some sales associates that are so kind, and when I tell them I have a special collection, sometimes they give me one, which also adds a special story,” she says. “It starts a great conversation. And in this day and age, not many people collect things anymore, so it’s unique. We’re in such a minimalist, throw-away era.”
Joyfully, Brandt’s always marched to the beat of her own design drum. (We’re guessing she was the only kid at school with her lunch tucked away in a fashion bag.) Today, she continues to appreciate the finer points of life—one shopping bag at a time.
