Vintage-Style Pink Laptop Tote

Well, I finally did it! After spending over four years reviewing everyone elses' laptop bags, I've finally designed one myself.

I'm thrilled that I finally had the opportunity, through a partnership with Rainebrooke Designs, to create my dream bag. The Funchico's design is based on a vintage train case - the kind that fashionable women used to carry on trains and ships as they embarked on Party Dresses exciting journeys around the world. Except, that bag silhouette wouldn't work too well for the modern laptop-carrying fashionista. But with a few tweaks, you get the Funchico.

The Funchico is a vertically oriented bag that will hold up to a 15.4" laptop. Well, actually, in some cases it will hold a 17" laptop. The sleeve in the centre of the bag is removable. And that's not just great for getting through airport security; that means that if you do have a larger laptop, you can just pop out the sleeve, and the bag itself has enough padding to provide protection for your laptop.

The inside of the bag is also fashioned on the train case. There are three generous pockets in the main compartment of the bag - they are loosely gathered and zippered to resemble the pockets in vintage luggage. The nice thing about them is that they will accommodate different size accessories - so whether your power brick is for a Mac or a PC, it will fit. As the Funchico is a Celebrity Dresses clamshell-style, there are also two zippered slim pockets in the interior of the top of the case.

On the front of the Funchico, there is a small pocket with a silver twist closure that is perfect for your mobile phone or iPod. On the back, there are two zippers - open the top one and you have a place to stow a few documents or a magazine; open the bottom one as well and you have a passthrough you can use to attach the Funchico over the top of your luggage.

Oh, I mentioned that the internal sleeve is removable. It's secured by Velcro strips and we've made sure that the "soft" side of the Velcro is on the interior Sweet 16 Dresses of the bag, so, if you wanted, you could actually remove the sleeve and use the Funchico simply as an overnight bag. Sweet!

When designing the bag and working through the manufacturing process with Rainebrooke, we both wanted to make sure that we didn't sacrifice the environment for fashion. So all carbon produced during manufacturing and transport has been offset purchased through Carbonfund.org. And finally, we donate a portion of the proceeds to Dress for Success (Vancouver and Houston chapters) - an organization that promotes the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire.