Every time I make a joke about man-bags, someone chirps up with something that resembles the following remark:
“You’re so immature and close minded. These days its fine to have a man bag, you know.”
Firstly, can I say that it is not fine to have a man bag. It doesn’t make you look homosexual, it just makes you look silly. Handbags are for women. There are cultural rules as to what is acceptable dress. You wouldn’t walk turn up to work in a penis gourd or pick your kids up in your pyjamas. It isn’t immature to recognise that there are cultural rules about what it is and isn’t sensible to wear and that these rules are sex and culture dependent. Man bags are fine in Korea, for example, but in England they look wrong.
Secondly, man bags were generally unacceptable until a few years ago, when the fashion industry suddenly started to declare they were ok. When I see someone with a man bag, I think ‘there’s someone who takes what Vogue tells him over common opinion’. It isn’t ‘open minded’ or ‘mature’ to believe everything that glossy magazines tell you is true.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with messanger bags, if that’s what you’re talking about…but the literal hand-bags, that are actually like the women’s hand-bags, are a bit too much.
In my experience, the only result of having a handbag was forgetting it or losing it. That’s why I rarely carry one any more. That’s what pockets are for. I really like pockets these days.
Messenger bags are great. Men have always used bags or whatever to carry things. I suppose if you were in high school in 1978 or something you might have some bizarre hangup about such trivial matters. And you’d think using synthesizers in rock music is “selling out”. Whatever.
A lot of men use them here in Tenerife. They don’t look like women’s handbags though - more like a satchel worn over one shoulder. I use one when I’m playing golf to keep tees etc and my wallet safe.
Maybe men have finally learned that they don’t have to keep (depending on their ‘handedness,’) change in a front pocket and keys in the other front pocket. wallet in one back pocket and handkerchief in the other back pocket.
Of course, women have bags within bags. We have a wallet for paper money and cards. We have a ‘change purse’ for loose change (unless we’re in a hurry and our loose change is simply thrown into the bottom of our main bag.) We have cosmetic bags–if we use cosmetics–and a hair bag, for a small brush and a small bottle of hair spray. If we’re really thoughtful of other people, we have a bag for a collapsible toothbrush and a travel sized tube of toothpaste. Otherwise, we have a bag for dental floss, breath mints and chewing gum. We carry individual packs of tissues, just in case, and a spray bottle of our favorite perfume–with a cap on, of course.
Then we have our sales receipts, our cleaners pick-up tickets, our grocery lists, and our coupons. If we’re lucky, we have a wallet for them, as well–or at lease a pocket for them within our bags. We also need room for our date books and our cell phones.
A pen is a must! A check book, not so much–unless you’ve maxed out your credit cards and it’s the day before payday.
Honestly, how do men get through life without bags?
…or a phone and digital money. …one with a coiled cord so i dont loose it, and a beeper which e-mails me its location when even then i still do loose it.
My pockets are just about maxed out. I don’t think an IPad will fit in the remaining pocket space. I hate when poeple call and I can’t answer in time because the cell phone is stuck too deep in my pocket. That happens several time per week. My spouse has a bag with the wallet built into the side of it so that unzipping a zipper gives quick access to the cards etc. I’d like a bag that is as smart as a swiss army knife and makes life easier. It needs some fool proof mechanism that will keep me from setting it down and or leaving it somewhere. If you can tell me where I can get that perfect bag, I’m sold.
On a related note I think men’s fashion lacks imagination, I guess our whole outlook is relatively boring/limited, something highlighted by most men’s response to handbags.
Fashions change and fashions are not always transcultural.
looks as outdated as:
Which makes sense. We no longer wear wigs, knee breeches, and cravats just as morning dress is almost never used anymore. Heck, you’d look somewhere between foppish and completely insane wearing either of those items nowadays.
As for the Fashion industry declaring it so, what is wrong with that? That is precisely what the fashion industry is there for! To make those sorts of fashion-forward movements – plus it opens a new market (which is required for capitalism to function).
I wear cargo pants, when I can. I carry some gear, usually. When I’m out and about, I usually have a daypack in the car. Sort of an overnight/get home bag. But I don’t actually carry it around. That said, I see nothing wrong with carrying a bag if you want or need the stuff that’s in it.
=D>