Tagged : United Kingdom

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.