Although men's fashion doesn't put as much variety value in bags as the ladies do, there are still trends that emerge from season to season. You'll find that some styles become so much more fashionable than most, while others get relegated to the archives of the past seasons. Here are some of the upcoming year's best bags that you may want to consider as your next style splurge.
Backpacks for Boys
This style of bag has stronger ties with recess than runways, but they've been all the rage especially in France and London, two of the capitals of high men's fashion. Nowadays, backpacks are no longer exclusive territory of primary schoolers; when you see the high fashion set sporting them left and right, you know you have a trend in progress.
Big boy backpacks, however, are markedly different from the elementary school variety. The latter makes much use of vinyl or plastic, and will usually feature a print pattern with numerous pockets; you'll want to choose in the opposite aesthetic direction. Simpler is better for the grownup backpack, with refined canvas or leather in restrained black, gray or tan as the materials of choice. Pockets, while popular for the schooling style, are a no-no for men over 16, when you no longer have that much math homework to stow. Keep the exterior as streamlined and as clean as possible. It might mean less compartments and storage space for you, but it pays off when you decide to wear it with a suit and tie.
Cool for School
It's not just backpacks that have crossed the boundary from infantile to indispensable for 2015. Men are growing into bag styles that they thought they'd long outgrown. If you recall any particular kind of bag you used before you entered high school, chances are good that it's going to be popular this year.
Take the schoolboy satchel, for example, a prep school staple across the Atlantic. Once associated solely with 1970's British education, the light brown variety has been seen on an increasing number of men about town.
From regulation ties with boaters, they're now being worn with the businessman's slim cut suits and the working dandy's knit tie. After all, there's no reason that the kids should have all the fun.
If you want to take a cue from the kids, pick out a satchel that's small to medium in size, since you don't want to look like you're going to school for real. A structured (read: stiff) bag should reference the schoolboy look well, while more mature materials like leather will make the bag appropriate for the office.
Leather Luggage
When investing in bags, it's near impossible to go wrong with leather. A leather bag in any style is one of those things, right up there with silk neckties and good, solid lace-ups, that every gentleman owns. They can fall out of vogue, like they did several seasons back when canvas took the stage. They also invariably come back into fashion soon after.
You can do two trends at once, such as with a boyish leather backpack or a sleek calfskin satchel.
What really has everyone, though, are luxuriously soft leather briefs that work beautifully for laptops and office documents. These aren't like the boxy briefcases that dad used to lug to work. Professional men in 2015 will want just enough structure for the bag to be functional, but not enough for the bag to be overly rigid.
Should you want your luggage to look cooler than the standard issue office brief, leather bags in 2015 are also seeing many faux animal styles via stamped leather. Faux croc is a particularly classic example of a dramatic leather bag. Add color like a bright blue for an even more striking faux reptilian specimen.
One thing you should learn about fashion is that trendy never needs to mean "unwearable at the office". Mature choices in material, color and style should make something as childish as a backpack look compatible with your daily suit and tie for work
