The Longchamp Le Pliage tote bag is my current favorite.  I think the simple design of this bag is genius.  Simple, with tons of room, and completely waterproof. The color selection is awesome!  No way to pick just one.  Then I came across the ‘Paradise’ large tote. I knew. I had. To have. It.  The vintage postcard design makes this the perfect bag for spring and summer travel.

 A little histoire: The Le Pliage bag was first sold in the U.S. in 1994 but really took off around 1999, when Longchamp opened its first U.S. retail location on Madison Avenue.  The Le Pliage is the runaway best seller here in the U.S. Mugger-wary New Yorkers are obsessed with straps, versus the Parisians, who prefer their Le Pliages backpack-style.

Longchamp has only ever advertised the bag in trade magazines, but in early 2000, a prominent editorial feature in InStyle nearly doubled sales of Le Pliage in the Madison Avenue boutique the month after it ran. Katie Couric was subsequently photographed with one of the bags in 2001, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Check out all of the available Le Pliage tote styles and colors here.