Every week a different FADER staff member will pick a clothing item or accessory that he or she has lately been spending a lot of time with—or would like to—and write a little love letter to it. We would've done a column on who we're dating but that seemed a little bit much. This week FADER's videographer Hanly Banks writes about the Kodak Ektra Tote.
I am one of those assholes who makes all of my friends miss the subway because I have to go digging for my Metrocard in my very large, very annoying purse. Sometimes it is not a purse at all—but a grocery sack, or beach bag, or whatever piece of garbage I can find with a handle on it and not too many holes. But recently a kindred soul with the same digging problem gave me an item that streamlined my entire commute and made everyone hate me a little less.
The Kodak Ektra Tote was purchased at a camera store in Greenpoint that was going out of business. This vintage '70s classic comes in a size that forces me to carry only the essentials. Who really needs to carry more than a wallet, cell phone, keys, and a few sticks of gum? The gum always ends up collecting little pieces of dirt anyways (or does that only happen to me?). And let me not overlook the greatest feature of my Kodak Tote–the feature that confirms that we were meant to walk side by side forever and ever–it was originally intended to hold rolls of film. Technically I'm a videographer, so in these modern times I use it to hold all of my super nerdy DV tapes. But technology is getting less and less tangible, and I like the idea of keeping it real with an old-school case full of new-school 'tronics. And in an illustrious shade of basketball brown leather, it compliments basically everything in my wardrobe (and my hair, OMG!). AND it feels like an accomplishment when I'm filming something and the tape runs out and instead of it being a big bummer, I'm all like WHATUP TAPE as I casually pull one out of mama's not-so-brand-new bag. No digging necessary.