The Beach Bag Has Left the Beach

There was a time when a beach bag had a very specific job.

Towel. Sunscreen. Sunglasses. Maybe a book that would inevitably come home with sand between the pages.

Then something happened.

The beach bag started showing up everywhere else.

At the farmers market. Under an airplane seat. Thrown into the back of the car. Carrying a laptop to lunch. Stuffed with a change of clothes for a night away. Sitting next to a beautiful handbag in a closet—and somehow getting chosen more often.

We don’t think that’s an accident.

The way we live has become less compartmentalized, and the things we carry are starting to reflect it. We don’t necessarily want one bag for the beach, another for travel, another for errands and another for whatever happens after that.

We want the one we love.

When utility became part of the look

Some of the best objects have always been incredibly ordinary.

A market basket. A canvas tote. A linen sack. Things originally designed because somebody needed to carry something from one place to another.

Their beauty came later—or perhaps we simply started noticing it.

That’s part of what makes a great beach bag interesting. It doesn’t need much. Good proportions. A material that gets better when it’s lived in. Enough room that you don’t have to negotiate with it every time you leave the house.

And perhaps most importantly: it shouldn’t look ridiculous once you’re five miles away from the ocean.

The best things refuse to stay in their category

We like that.

A towel can become part of a room.

A scarf can end up tied around a bag.

A tank can belong under a blazer just as easily as it belongs over a swimsuit.

And a beach bag can spend considerably more time at airports than beaches.

That crossover is where things get interesting.

It’s also increasingly how we think about what belongs in the Costa SA-LA world. We aren’t particularly interested in making objects that wait patiently for the right occasion.

They should go somewhere.

Get used.

Get thrown in the car.

End up in photographs.

Pick up a little evidence that you’ve actually been living with them.

Maybe the modern beach bag isn’t really a beach bag anymore.

Maybe it just took us a while to notice.