Read the warp and weft of the 2020 fashion trends and you’ll find a handful of common threads woven throughout the runways and across designers, from the street to the atelier. Suits are back and so are the ’70s (and also the 2000s). Silhouettes are swinging back and forth all at once so that baggy is next to slim with flared in between. Crystals, embroidery and prints are touching anything and everything.
Ramping up over the past several seasons however is the purse. Yes, this is a site aimed at men. And no, we haven’t taken a detour to talk about women’s fashion.
Originally hugging the waists of countless hikers and backpackers, the fanny pack entered the fashion zeitgeist, migrating to the shoulders of stylish sets, slung across the body. People called them shoulder bags, cross-body bags, saccoches, side bags, even messenger bags. They were all variations on a theme, each with their slight differences. The worst was undoubtedly ‘murse’, an unnecessary portmanteau akin to metrosexual, used as a veil for phobias at worse and a dated term at best. Now, we’re fully where we need to be and we’re calling a spade a spade. Designers have really leaned into the aesthetic of a purse what we generally think of as a purse and they haven’t shied away from calling it just that. Acne’s version went from ‘Small Leather Crossbody Bag‘ to ‘Mini Purse Bag.’
Louis Vuitton, Spring/Summer 2020
Lemaire, Fall/Winter 2020
