Matthew Olivolo October 15th, 2007
By Kate – Funky, Chic and Cool Laptop Bags on Squidoo.com
Geek Girls, Go Retro with Your Laptop Bag!
I grew up smack dab in the middle of the Bible Belt. Consequently, I spent a lot of time at church, listening to evangelical preachers exhorting sinners to join the flock. One of the most common motivational questions I heard was “Do you know that you know that if you died tonight you’d go to heaven and meet Jesus?” I always thought this was a pretty good motivator – a little fear, a little hope and the promise of schmoozing with one of the biggest celebrities around.
What does this have to do with cool laptop bags? Well, two decades later and I still don’t know if I’d go to heaven, BUT, I know what laptop bag I’d take with me to meet Jesus. And that bag, my friends, is the Maddie Powers Cutebug Laptop Messenger Bag – brought to you by Mobile Edge. When Matthew sent over a review copy, I thought I HAD died and gone to heaven. This bag is as close to perfection as possible. Let’s break it down …
First, the look of the bag. I adore anything vintage. Maddie Powers bags and accessories all sport covers from authentic pulp novels and digest magazines from the 1940’s and 50’s. Tres chic! This messenger bag has a cover from a novel called “Bright Promises”. The rest of the exterior is black except for the back pocket. Flip this bag over and you have an exterior pocket that is covered in a royal purple faux-velvet. Read that again: Royal Purple Faux Velvet! This same material covers the shoulder strap pad. So HOT! Now, I only have tested it for a week, so I’m not sure if over the long term (and especially in the winter) the material will pill or not, but so far, so good. The back pocket seals with a small strip of velcro.
OK, let’s flip open that front flap and see what the interior is like.
Yup, no vintage in here. This is all modern, sure to please any 21st century geek girl.
The main interior pocket has a self-contained sleeve that is made from SafetyCell [tm] … a cool “lining” for the sleeve that has all these independent foam bumps. They function as “object deceleration” .. which I think means that they absorb more of the shock than regular single-layer foam cores if you drop the bag. Nice. Outside the sleeve is a large pocket that will easily hold several files, a notebook, magazine, power cord, etc. It also has a zippered pouch which would be good for items like plane tickets or travel docs that you want to keep separate and handy.
The other interior pocket in the front of the bag has the usual sets of pouches: mobile phone, pens, etc. It is big enough to house a power cord, wallet or other miscellaneous items. And it, too, has a zippered front pouch for additional docs or other important papers. The non-removable shoulder strap is very comfortable and can be adjusted to be quite long – so us big-busted gals can do the full across-the-body carry. The entire bag is really well constructed and is made of an easy-to-clean, water-resistant MicroFiber.
The whole thing closes with opposing velcro straps and they are long enough so that you can “over stuff” (really, can you ever carry too much stuff?) For the quality of the material and construction, the Cutebug Messenger doesn’t feel any heavier than other bags of its class. It is, however, a little larger both in width and depth; I ended up wearing it a little lower on my hip than other bags.
Overall, I am really impressed with the quality of the Cutebug Messenger, let alone the funky quotient of this bag!
To read the full review click here.
Lesley Scott over at Fashiontribes has found a stylish laptop bag that “every fashionista needs.” It is the 
