Practical Accessories

In the modern era, men are becoming more and more aware of the importance of accessorising. Yet the typical everyday male isn’t a dandy and doesn’t want to adorn every part of him with superfluous items that serve no purpose, just for the sake of being ‘individual’.

A good bag, however, has quickly developed into a practical modern must-own, with style-conscious gent’s realising that stuffing their pockets full of keys, smartphones, loose change and wallets not only ruins their perfectly crafted silhouette, but the linings of their beloved trousers. Not only that, with the average male’s ‘daily essentials’ list expanding to include everything from umbrellas and sports supplements to notebooks and tablets, a bag is now more often than not a necessity, rather than a conscious choice.

Over previous years we have seen totes, backpacks and holdalls trend within the industry, which all have one thing in common: a large capacity that can fit in a lot of items. Great if you have to lug around your gym kit or are going away for the weekend, but not quite as important if you only need to carry a few specific work-related items each day.

With this in mind, a new smaller and more streamlined design has risen to prominence, after being spotted both on and off the runways at the spring/summer 2014 fashion weeks. Yes, the document holder (or folio) is set to become the next big accessory trend for men.

The Document Holder

Until now, the document holder has traditionally been associated with womenswear and therefore deemed too feminine – something that hasn’t been helped by the media adopting ridiculous names like the ‘man clutch’, ‘mutch’ or ‘murse’ to describe the style.

In addition, many men seem to have a hard time overcoming the thought that this type of bag isn’t particularly practical, due to the absence of a handle, putting the folio firmly in the aforementioned ‘superfluous’ category, and something only used for accessorising.