They inspire lust, look better than a Scottish sporran, and the guy who organized Live Aid carries one.
The man's bag is in again. A standout in the latest round of fashion shows that began in Milan and Paris last month, it has already made an appearance in New York as the city's Fashion Week got started Friday.
From Louis Vuitton to Perry Ellis and Z Zegna, design houses have been sending their male models strutting down the runways flashing bags in a new variety of shapes and sizes. And men are paying attention.
"You've never seen grown men lust after an It bag like they did this morning," fashion reviewer Tim Blanks wrote Jan. 17 on men.style.com about Louis Vuitton's new Damier Graphite bags, unveiled in Paris.
Designers are competing to capture growing demand as more men become bag lovers, following such pioneers as the late author Truman Capote and rock star Bob Geldof, driver of Live Aid. Capote carried one partly because, he reportedly said, he never knew where he might spend the night. Geldof designed one for British leather-goods maker Mulberry.
Called by different names – "manbag," man purse, city bag, day bag – they now are widely available on luxury retailers' Web sites and have appeared on store mannequins, in fashion magazine ads and in catalogs.
"It's a snowball effect," said Tom Kalenderian, executive vice president of the Barneys New York luxury chain. "Now every men's collection that we go to has a strong presentation of leather goods. It seems almost imperative."
Young men in large cities are prime customers, said Ross Menuez, a bag-mad fashion designer who launched his own line of bags last year.
On the first day of New York's Feb. 1-8 Fashion Week, menswear designer Duckie Brown debuted its $900 nylon rucksack with leather detail.
"It's fabulous," Duckie Brown co-designer Daniel Silver had said the day before. "We have already taken orders. It's going to be THE new bag."
The hot silhouette is the "north-south" narrow vertical shape, Kalenderian said. At the European shows, he liked bags with a vintage feel, with hand-burnished leather and featuring artisan touches like contrast stitching.
The trend has spawned partnerships. Jil Sander's Raf Simons has teamed up with the backpack brand Eastpak of VF Corp. for a line. Yohji Yamamoto has done a deal with Italian brand Mandarina Duck.
Menuez's bags include the "Marsupium" line of coated-canvas dry bags – like a sailor's carry-all – available in 12 prints inspired by roofs, manhole covers, tatami mats and other things. They start at $350.
The man-with-bag trend started in 1969, Frank W. Hoffmann and William G. Bailey wrote in their book, "Fashion and Merchandising Fads." The slim trousers and pocketless Edwardian jackets of the time generated "another method" for "toting one's everyday necessities," they said. Throughout history, men have used carrying devices from saddlebags to the sporrans worn with Scottish kilts.
Leather-goods makers Gucci and Prada revived the category when they began showing men's accessories on the runways in the late 1990s, Kalenderian said. The creation of the Jack Spade unit of women's handbag maker Kate Spade in 1999 also spurred interest, Menuez said.
Men can now enjoy their own versions of looks long flaunted by women, such as Burberry's beige plaid and Bottega Veneta's woven leather. Design elements include metallic and exotic leathers and embossed dragons and lobster closures. At Mulberry, Geldof's "Bob" has joined the brand's popular Roxanne and Mabel.
Not everyone is comfortable with the manbag concept. The television comedy "Seinfeld" made it the target of jokes in one episode.
"Men don't want to look too fey," Menuez said.
On men.style.com, designer Michael Kors was quoted as saying: "I have an issue with men carrying bags that look too slick." Valentino was said to describe "little bags" as "ridiculous."
Ryosuke Matsumoto, 32, a senior art director at Bandujo Advertising & Design in New York, said he loves carrying bags but can do without the ribbing they incite, including his girlfriend's. He has bought four bags in the past five years.
"I don't want to be carrying the same bags all the time," Matsumoto said.
On a recent visit to Barneys New York, Menuez helpfully pointed out some tasteful selections. He liked a Goyard "Boeing," $2,300, in a black chevron print; a Valextra squared-off duffel, $3,330, in the brand's signature off-white leather with black piping; and a $290 Dries van Noten multicolored striped bag that resembles a rice sack.
Men should carry bags if only to do the ladies, and themselves, a favor, the designer said.
"It's the women who often have to carry the men's sunglasses, wallets, cell phones," he said. "It's kind of a problem if they have a fight and the woman runs away."
