What’s in a Bag?
Paul Smith is a designer and brand that I have a strong affinity for — despite not owning any article sporting his name. Unfortunately at this point in my life it’s out of my budgetary diet, but I do aspire to filling my entire bachelor closet with Paul Smith stuff.
Today in London I went to the Mecca of all things Paul in Covent Garden and found a piece of luggage that made me think in ways that luggage really shouldn’t. I saw myself stepping off a plane in Lisbon with the perfect manbag luggage. In my vision I was portrayed by a GQ model with aviators, the perfect amount of stubble, and a wicked scarf. GQ me steps off the plane, perfect manbag slung effortlessly over shoulder, heading straight into the streets of cosmopolitan Europe.
The bag is nothing fancy. In fact, it’s plain and simple. Black or brown leather, shoulder strap, outer pocket. It’s a throwback to a time when a man’s life was simple enough to fit in that bag — I want my life to fit in that bag. I spent a good amount of time sizing it up. Can everything really fit in there? What do I need to ditch in order to fit my life in the bag. Surely there’s room for my 8 plain black t-shirts, 8 boxer briefs, 8 socks, 2 jeans, Macbook, SLR camera, thin travel towel, light fleece hoodie thing, and toiletry kit. I really want to find out, but at a pricey £500 the transformation to GQ me will have to wait…well maybe.
You better have bought that bag. The image of GQ Chris, is too great not to have it. If it is the difference between going to New York or not, I say the bag still wins.
Hey dude, the blog kicks ass! Your trip sounds like its going well. We’ll go have some wine when you get back. G
Alas, I did not buy the bag, but I wish I had. Although seeing bags that were similar in Morocco at a fraction of the price made me wonder where all the money would have gone. I guess you can’t put a price on good design.
Thanks mate and definitely!
[...] Paul Smith Medium Trolley This is my favourite of the bunch, but that is largely based on style. I would believe that this is good quality and I have seen it in person, but it is largely the Paul Smith stripes you are paying for. At a price of about £435 it is also very expensive for what it is, but I’m very tempted! (See also: What’s in a Bag?) [...]
Oddly I wrote this right around the time that the movie Up in the Air came out in theatres. I didn’t know much about it, but after seeing it this article is disturbingly similar to the character Ryan Bingham’s “What’s in Your Backpack?” lecture series. The world must be trending toward simplicity…