Why the fashion world is getting carried away with the must-have accessory.

Remember when people would use the words “man bag”? Often deployed as a slightly disparaging term, it literally denotes a bag carried by… a man. Whoa! Bring the amber lamps! Men don’t carry things! Well, how times have changed. Thanks to brands bringing some serious style clout to their accessories, men carrying stuff around has never been more acceptable. This week, someone tweeted a photograph of the rapper Gunna carrying the new Dior saddle bag inside a silver Louis Vuitton bag. It transpired that the Dior bag was, according to the rapper, “for blue faces only”, that is absolutely chock full of cash money. A kind of “bagception” of obscene wealth to be sure, but also a signifier that bags are now status symbols for men in the same way that they have always been for women.

Another reason you should take note: the inexorable rise of the belt bag. The accessory formerly known as the fanny pack or the bum bag, two strikingly unfashionable names for something that is now pushed by the world’s most fashionable designers, was once the preserve of sunburnt European tourists, but that now is practically compulsory garb for everyone attending fashion week. Everyone from Heron Preston to Givenchy are now producing streetwise pouches with which to wrap around your person. Carrying your phone and wallet in your pockets is passé these days.

So, to get in on the unbridled glee that comes with being able to carry your stuff around, have a look at some of the bags below that are new to MR PORTER today. From Berluti’s New Wave backpack (made in Italy and with blue, burgundy and black patina detailing on the zips and handle) to Oliver Spencer’s leather-trimmed suede holdall or Stone Island’s nylon and canvas backpack that will suit everything from the work commute to a mountain hike, these are bags for the modern man. The man bag for the now, if you will.