THE JOURNAL
From left: White Mountaineering. Photograph courtesy of launchmetrics.com/spotlight. Fendi. Photograph courtesy of launchmetrics.com/spotlight. ZEGNA. Photograph by Mr Daniele Oberrauch/launchmetrics.com/spotlight
Menswear doesn’t really have “It-bags” in the way womenswear traditionally has. But a glance at 2024’s most visible menswear icons shows that such modes of thinking may be shortly outdated, because fancy man-bags are everywhere.
Mr Jacob Elordi, a card-carrying member of the man-bag community, appears to be the ringleader. In recent months, the Saltburn actor has been photographed sporting a Bottega Veneta messenger bag, another from Burberry and even a Chanel purse. Mr Harry Styles has carried a number of Gucci handbags, naturally, while A$AP Rocky has been spotted with a black Hermès Kelly bag, an item you’d usually associate with ladies who lunch. In other bag-related headlines, Mr Pharrell Williams recently caused a stir with the bright yellow Millionaire Speedy bag for Louis Vuitton that he announced in November (yours for – you guessed it – a million dollars).
Taking note, designers sent bags of all sizes and persuasions down the men’s runways this season. Which is exciting because the right bag can really make an outfit. A bag gives a look some purpose. A truly excellent bag will turn heads.
Whether you’re packing light or are toting gold bars, we explore a few bag trends from the recent runway shows, below.
01. A truly giant bag
From left: Auralee. Photograph by Mr Daniele Oberrauch/launchmetrics.com/spotlight. Fendi. Photograph courtesy of launchmetrics.com/spotlight. ZEGNA. Photograph by Mr Daniele Oberrauch/launchmetrics.com/spotlight. KENZO. Photograph courtesy of KENZO. Gucci. Photograph courtesy of launchmetrics.com/spotlight
Say you’re a busy man with a full calendar, the kind of guy who books in a hot yoga class before work and a hot date afterwards. It follows that you’ll need a sizeable bag to get you through the day. Unless it can hold your gym kit, your laptop and all of your hopes and dreams in one handy compartment, is it even worth carrying? As if to raise that point this season, brands supersized their bags: Auralee showed garment bag-inspired holdalls that could fit a week’s worth of dry-cleaning; ZEGNA had leather ones carried under the arm; and KENZO had tie-up furoshiki-style bags that were big enough to carry your lunch bento and then some.
Get the look
02. A very, very small bag
From left: Fendi. Photograph courtesy of launchmetrics.com/spotlight. KENZO. Photograph courtesy of KENZO. Hermès. Photograph by Mr Filippo Fior/Courtesy of Hermès. ZEGNA. Photograph by Mr Daniele Oberrauch/launchmetrics.com/spotlight. Givenchy. Photograph courtesy of Givenchy
On the opposite end of the spectrum, what is this, a bag for ants? Spacious enough to carry your iPhone (and a couple of paracetamol if you’re lucky), the tiny bag has been trending in fashion at large over the past few years – big thanks to Jacquemus’ Le Chiquito bag, which started the whole craze around five years ago and is about the size of a large lemon. Against all odds, the trend for teeny bags seems to have largely endured, with dinky bags on show at Givenchy, Fendi and more at the AW24 shows. Not at all practical – apart from the fact that they are light – the point of this bag is to function as an accessory, which tells those around you that you are simply too important to do anything as pedestrian as carry your own possessions.
Get the look
03. Every bag, everywhere, all at once
From left: Fendi. Officine Générale. White Mountaineering. Louis Vuitton. Dior. Photographs courtesy of launchmetrics.com/spotlight
Undecided on the above, but still feeling bag-curious? Arguably the breakout accessory trend of the season was that one bag is just not enough. At Parisian brand Officine Générale, some models sported two tote bags, while at White Mountaineering, they carried multiple briefcases in different sizes, like they’d just robbed a bank, and then another very small bank. Louis Vuitton stole the show, however, going back to its heritage with luggage carts that carried stacks of its famous trunks printed in William’s now trademark “damouflage” (that’s digital camouflage). For the man who has everything – and wants to carry it with him at all times.