Style: carry on regardless

Look, I don’t like the phrase “man-bag” any more than you do. It conjures up images of flight bags from the seventies, or that strange sort of leather wash-bags with a wrist-strap that Italian men used to carry round with them (and may still do). Yet it is a fact that everyday life requires us men to carry around with us more than we can fit into our pockets. Even when wearing a suit or odd jacket, there are simply too few places to put one’s wallet, mobile phone, BlackBerry, keys, iPod and so on. On if you also carry a laptop, filofax, ebook reader or other paraphernalia on a regular basis, you need some kind of bag to put it all in. This is not a challenge to masculinity, but a frank fact of life.

The real question here is not, does a man need a bag, but rather, what sort of bag does a man need? You may already have a leather briefcase or ballistic nylon laptop bag. Many men opt for the rucksack for their gym clothes, believing it to be somehow more “acceptable” than one with any individuality. These bags are all very well, but they are designed for a particular purpose. The briefcase for carrying papers; the laptop bag for, well, a laptop; the rucksack for anything that involves strenuous exercise and adventure. All are types of “man-bag”, but what the modern man needs is a “day-bag”, one to carry all the accountrements of everyday life. So that is what I shall call it.

The main requirement for the day-bag is that it should be flexible. You never know what will need to go into it. Unlike a laptop bag or similar, where a number of separate compartments are necessary, the day-bag really needs one large main section, possibly with a small zip section on the side for those small items that may get lost at the bottom of the bag, such as keys. It must be large enough to take a magazine, newspaper or netbook. A couple of easily-accessible outer pockets may prove useful, and ideally both handles and shoulder-strap ensure the requisite flexibility.

The modern man can do a lot worse than look to John Chapman (www.chapmanbags.com) for excellent bags made in Cumbria, in England’s Lake District. The picture above demonstrates a few of his offerings, clockwise from top left: the Rambler (£159), Large Rucksack (£149), Large Folio Bag (£145) and Trip Bag (£165). Each would be ideal as a day-bag.

Of course, when faced with a choice, it is easy to come to the conclusion that one bag is never enough.