The independent curator Alison Gingeras wrote in an e-mail that she often forgoes “the ‘real’ purse for cloth totes.” Ms. Gingeras’s clients include Francois Pinault, the president of PPR, whose holdings include Gucci and Bottega Veneta. Her holdings include totes from the Hamster Wheel show that was organized by Franz West in Venice and another — “really distressed,” she said — from Nate Lowman’s show at Astrup Fearnley. “I have a total fetish for them and get upset when I lose one.”

In the signed-satchel realm, new is not necessarily better; indeed, some people wash before use for the crinkly, Rag and Bone anti-polished look. “I keep and treasure the one Alber Elbaz created as a giveaway for his 2010 Halloween party,” said the public relations entrepreneur Cary Leitzes, of Leitzes & Company (no, Mr. Elbaz is not a client).

Is this yet another sign of the 1970s revival? Then, the cloth Le Bag hit big, along with “message” T-shirts, and Channel 13 supporters and their ilk made use of nonprofit logoed totes. Now the resurgence of the environmental movement, coupled with the graphic design boom and lowered screen-printing costs, has helped make totes ubiquitous.

Anya Hindmarch, in 2007, designed the popular “I’m Not a Plastic Bag” canvas satchel, publicized on Oscar nominees with the help of Vanity Fair. Boutiques supporting young designers and sustainability, like Bird in Brooklyn, began giving away logo bags with purchases: the perfect size for the laptops we all have to lug hither and yon.