介绍： Vocabulary: fashion 词汇: 时尚

We have so much stuff to carry around these days – mobile phones, keys, credit cards and laptops. Some of us might stuff them into various pockets in our clothes and others will put them in a bag. For women this might be a practical and trendy handbag. But how are men supposed...

介绍： Vocabulary: fashion 词汇: 时尚

We have so much stuff to carry around these days – mobile phones, keys, credit cards and laptops. Some of us might stuff them into various pockets in our clothes and others will put them in a bag. For women this might be a practical and trendy handbag. But how are men supposed to carry things around and look cool?

The answer is a manbag! They are the height of fashion at the moment – a stylish accessory that modern men are carrying around. I'm a little cynical about these must-have items – let's face it, a manbag by any other name is a bag and I have one - my trusty backpack. However, senior fashion analyst for market research company Mintel, Tamara Senders, describes a manbag as "a bag worn by men, including backpacks and other styles such as shoulder bags." I can't see my old backpack being a style icon, but maybe I'm just not on-trend: According to Mintel, 15 per cent of men bought one in the UK last year.

Maybe it's the name that's putting me off. Why does a bag have to have a gender? I suppose they're being marketed as a stylish fashion item designed to look good on men. I've heard that many big names have flocked to adopt the trend. Pharrell Williams, David Beckham and Kanye West, are just some of those who've been spotted rocking a manbag.

My reservations about being seen carrying one may be down to my Britishness. According to Nick Carvell, the Contributing Fashion Editor for GQ magazine: "In Britain we are still very tied up with that idea of masculinity that is almost so fragile that it can be dented by carrying a bag." So, while some British men might think a manbag to be effeminate and not very 'macho', he thinks that many Europeans don't have an issue with toting such a fashionable item.

Of course, if I was to exchange my old backpack for a manbag, it would come at a price. With people like Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Gucci and Dolce and Gabbana designing these bags, they can come with a hefty price tag. I suppose that's the price of fashion! And apparently, if I had any spare cash, I could complete my designer outfit by buying a murse – that's a man's purse!

I suppose fashions change and we have come a long way from the days when men carried their things in a very masculine briefcase - sturdy, sensible and practical. Now, it seems, we have to put as much thought into buying a bag as we do into buying our clothes.