Carried by hand, on the back, over the shoulder, at arm’s length or tucked under the elbow like a clutch, in mini-format or in XXL size, the bags were unquestionably the stars of Pharrell Williams’ first fashion show as artistic director of men’s collections at Louis Vuitton. Of the seventy-one silhouettes presented with great fanfare on the Pont-Neuf in Paris on June 20, only six were without a bag.
Coming from Vuitton, which has built its brand identity on the art of travel and whose feminine bags are at the heart of its financial strategy, this is hardly surprising. But this still raises the question of the new uses of the male bag, long confined to a utilitarian role and often limited to backpacks in the sports departments. Is the men’s bag then a commercial reality or a simple podium effect?
In luxury, this accessory has been reinvented for several seasons during men’s fashion shows: Kim Jones, at Dior, has largely contributed to putting it on the front of the stage. The Englishman had indeed made Saddle, a reinterpretation of a 1999 female model in the form of a riding saddle by John Galliano, the flagship model of his first show for Dior Homme, in June 2018. Matthew M. Williams, at Givenchy, also truffles his parades of bags for man, just like Jonathan Anderson at Loewe. At Vestiaire Collective, a website specializing in second-hand luxury pieces, we have seen an increase in sales of men’s bags of more than 30% between 2022 and 2023.
More accessible brands, such as Sandro, Arket and even the low-cost clothing giant Zara, or more sportswear, such as Adidas or Nike, have also integrated it into the range of accessories offered to customers. And the offer is much more diversified than before: gone are the days when only businessmen’s schoolbags and teenagers’ bananas were available! We now find on the shelves tote bags, bags with wide straps, soft bags to carry over the shoulder or even cases to carry in the hand.
“ The men’s bag will, in my opinion, be the next sector to experience strong growth, analyzes Alice Feillard, director of supply and purchasing for men at Galeries Lafayette. This follows the natural evolution of the men’s fashion market, which started with shoes, the demand for which exploded thanks in particular to sneakers. Today, the focus is on leather goods: its development, with a wealth of proposals in sizes and models, is the logical continuation. »
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