Vera Bradley Fever

What’s up with Vera Bradley designs and why are they so popular?  See what college and high school students think about her paisley-inspired prints.

I know my sister, my mother, and I all own at least one Vera Bradley item. I own a wristlet and a bag, both of which I love. And I never even realized how great a brand it was until the products became some of the most durable bags in my closet. So how did Vera Bradley rise to stardom?

According to the Vera Bradley website (www.verabradley.com), the company was founded by Barbara Bradley Baekgaard and Patricia R. Miller in 1982. While waiting to board a flight for a trip to Atlanta, they noticed there were very few feminine looking pieces of luggage roaming the airport. Weeks after, the Vera Bradley brand, named after Baekgaard’s mother who was a model for Elizabeth Arden, was born, and it is now an internationally recognized company.

After doing research on how Vera Bradley got its start-up, I was curious as to whether everyone liked the brand as much as I did. I see them everywhere, but what about the people who have avoided picking up the trend?

So, I asked several female and college high school students if they owned anything Vera Bradley, and if they did, why they liked the brand.

Amanda Parry, sophomore at The College of New Jersey, said, “I love their colorful floral prints the most because they add pop to any casual outfit.”

The names of the prints speak for themselves, with patterns like” Doodle Daisy” or “Rosy Posies“. The Vera Bradley website has a list of them and shows them on all the style bags: http://www.verabradley.com/section/Color/639.uts And believe me there are LOTS of different styles, which is part of what makes the brand so popular.

“I like it because the designs are cute and fun and there are a lot of different items you can purchase. Everything is different,” said Vicky Sarno, incoming sophomore at Susquehanna University.

Vera Bradley isn’t just limited to bags and wristlets. My cousin, Natalia Lehaf, an incoming junior at New York University, doesn’t even own any Vera Bradley bags. “I have a necklace,” she said. “I love the jewelry, not so much the bags. I like choker-like necklaces and they provide fancier ones than places like Claire’s.”

Not everyone is a fan though. Chrysan Tung of The Cornell Daily Sun wrote in an article in March of 2009 titled “Too Much Paisley: Hatred of Vera Bradley”  that “…Vera Bradley is New England Country Club to the extreme…Fashion inexplicably connotes lifestyles. For me, the one of Vera Bradley depicts a race- and, above all, gender-stereotyped “Pleasantville” in which the women stay at home, garbed in flower aprons, headbands and pearls while the men go off to golf clubs.”

While I see what Tung is saying, it seems like a bit of a stretch. The patterns are girly, and that was the Miller and Baekgaard’s purpose in creating the brand. It is true that fashion connotes a lifestyle, which is how branding works in the advertising industry, but since when does paisley prints mean negative gender-role stereotypes for women? Yes, Vera Bradley has a classic, rustic appeal,  indicative of the countryside, but that doesn’t mean I’m skipping through one before returning to my “womanly duties” while I sport one of their bags.

I think a key to the Vera Bradley brand’s success is that it is girly, colorful and fun. I’ve seen women of all ages with these bags, so the style really does appeal to many groups. I don’t think the brand is pushing a negative stereotype, but appealing to a positive ideal; women should celebrate their femininity. And that’s something I can support J