If thousands of years of the patriarchy have given men nothing else, they’ve given us pockets. And pockets mean we don’t need to lug ludicrously capacious handbags around wherever we go.
It is the presence of so many pockets in my life that caused me to arch my eyebrows as high as they could go when my wife told me that someone called Jacob Elordi had been spotted on social media sporting a man bag with a price tag of more than 10 grand.
This immediately led to some follow up questions starting with who, followed by why and then how.
It turns out the Saltburn and Euphoria actor has played a starring role in a trend that has seen glamorous young men including the likes of Timothée Chalamet, Lionel Messi and our very own Paul Mescal, nonchalantly drape wildly expensive accessories off their shoulders as they go about their business.
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I turned to GQ which was once - and may well still be – the bible for stylish men everywhere to find out what was going on. There I learned that earlier this year Elordi was photographed ostentatiously carrying a “tomato red” Bottega Veneta Andiamo bag. He has also been seen with a Chanel Mini Messenger Bag in recent times, but he kicked the whole trend off back in 2020 when he wore a cross-body Fendi bag delightfully named the Baguette. Disappointingly, it is not comically shaped like a French stick, which seems like a missed opportunity from the Fendi people.
But anyways.
With these three previously unheard names rattling around my previously bag-free brain, I went in search of prices to see if hopping on this bandwagon was something I might be able to afford.
Spoiler alert. It is not.
After a confusing spin around the Bottega Veneta website, I found the tomato red Andiamo bag priced at €9,000, although there is another one that costs more than €21,000. The Chanel Mini Messenger bag is comparatively cheap with a price tag of just under five grand, while the Fendi Baguette can cost up to €7,500.
It seems like an unconscionable amount of money to spend on a bag – particularly one that I would end up carrying leaking cartons of juice in before eventually losing on a Luas. Even Elordi seems to agree.
“I never bought a bag,” he told GQ. “Maybe that should be something that is exposed about Hollywood. All these people think, I wish I had that lifestyle. I mean, yes, to get them for free - that’s great. What a great lifestyle. But people that have all this money aren’t spending it. You just get sent stuff. It blows my mind.”
So he starts a trend – intentionally or otherwise – and then swans off into the sunset swinging his swag while others are left to pick up the tab? He’s hardly the first star to do such a thing to be fair to him, so no judgment here.
But before I go off in search of the right bag for me, I need to establish if the man bag is in fact a real trend worth buying into. And who better to brief me than the High Fashion King of Ireland Brendan Courtney.
He assures me it is definitely a real thing.
“Remember when Joey had a man bag in Friends and it was a big joke? It isn’t now,” he says. “The gays always had bags because we didn’t care, but it has moved mainstream now. I think it started with men using tote bags. Tote bags work because you need a practically sized bag and they are very functional. It’s really easy to throw your wallet and stuff in, and if you’re a man who wears short shorts, you need a tote.”
Courtney suggests that men with totes are “virtue signalling but in a good way. They are saying they reuse bags and are in touch with their feminine side and are not going to beat you up on the street.”
How can toting a tote tell people that?
“It is simple,” Courtney explains. “People who are going to mug you probably don’t carry totes.”
With all this talk of short shorts and designer handbags, it is inevitable Paul Mescal would come up. According to Courtney, Ireland’s favourite Gladiator is leading the charge for the man bag, and prefers designer shopping bags to hand bags. “It’s open top, and he uses that in a practical way.”
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But surely the most practical thing is still pockets?
“Oh but if it is summer time and you are in your short shorts you need your bag,” Courtney says.
He stresses that only “a very tiny percentage” of men spend big on bags, but “there is a market for it. There are easily seduced, wealthy guys who will just follow a trend.”
The man bag has joined the wrist watch as a status symbol, shorthand for “I have loads of money and don’t know what to do with it”.
“You can’t drive your expensive car into meetings, but you can flash your Rolex or carry your expensive bag in,” he says.
Courtney isn’t just a follower of fashion or a broadcaster, of course; he also runs one of Ireland’s most fabled fashion operations with Sonya Lennon. Bags are among Lennon Courtney’s biggest sellers. He assures me they have a bag coming out next year that will appeal to more men. “It’s an oversized bag and I will definitely carry it. I’m actually looking forward to it,” he says. The bags they sell aren’t wildly priced either.
Armed with all this newfound knowledge, I pay a visit to Brown Thomas on a crisp winter morning. Here, bags can sell for many thousands of euro, but they also have a selection that are more affordable. I stand transfixed by the bags in the glittering Hermes hall.
This is the place to buy a Birkin bag, although I’m unable to see any on display. The internet will tell me later that they can cost in excess of 30 grand, so it’s likely they are stashed away in a vault.
This part of BTs is clearly not my bag.
Instead I head to the menswear section where I meet the very stylish Carl Shaban, who has been working in BTs for 12 years. If there was ever a man who knows about the trends occupying the minds of dedicated followers of fashion, it is Shaban.
He says he has seen a definite increase in the number of men coming in in search of bags over the last couple of years. “They have become an everyday essential. That could be because of bigger tech, bigger phones, that kind of thing. Our pockets haven’t grown with the size of our gadgets,” he says.
For men, the functionality rather than the form of bags remain to the fore, but there has been a shift with celebs encouraging more men to look for style as well as substance.
“Bags have become a real statement. I’ve definitely had people ringing me, asking if we stock the bags they see celebrities wearing,” he said.
Focussing on the price and suggesting that it is just an ostentatious display of wealth is “a simplistic way of looking at it, because bags are for everybody. We have students coming in, and footballers. There is a man who runs a grocery shop nearby who has been in looking for a bag.”
The more expensive bags might be considered “investment pieces that will last. It’s just about getting the right bag for you, and I guarantee we have it here,” he says.
“People buy bags because they love them, they love the craftsmanship or the style. The high-end bags rarely go into discount. You can sell it if you get bored of it, and use the money for your next bag.”
I ask Shaban for a starter bag, and he suggests Hugo Boss. “You could get one for a couple of hundred euro.”
Funnily enough, as he says the name, I remember that despite my misgivings, I actually already own such a bag [I just hadn’t considered it to be a “man bag” before].
Or at least I did. I arrive home that evening to find my car has been broken into. The only thing the thief has taken is my bag. I hope they’re happy and wear it well, and know they’re surfing the zeitgeist now. At least I have all my research done for a replacement.
