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A model displays a creation as part of Gucci Spring/Summer 2010 men's collection - Source: Reuters
Designers at Milan fashion week are playing up accessories for men, offering a selection of items ranging from shopper bags to a harness-like, over-the-shoulder device to carry a coat.
With a huge array of sizes, shapes and colours on offer, top brands have sought to prove at the June 20-23 spring/summer 2010 menswear shows that the days are gone when bags were for women only.
At Bottega Veneta's show on Sunday there were richly coloured shopper bags, duffel bags with convertible straps and a limited edition of its Cabat bag - all part of the fashion house's campaign "to eliminate the overstuffed pants pocket".
The bags accompanied a line that focused on V-shaped trousers - full on top and narrow at the bottom - paired with tailored jackets, striped shirts and sturdy round-toe shoes.
"Bags have a very important role in men's (fashion)," creative director Tomas Maier told Reuters.
"(A bag) defines a look ... it has nothing to do with the price point - bags really have become a key accessory in the wardrobe of the younger man."
Burberry Creative Director Christopher Bailey said he wanted to make "a real statement" with the bags at his menswear show.
"Guys always carry bags now. It used to be the thing that it was a woman's thing but we all have to go to work. We all carry laptops, agendas and everything else," he said.
Bailey showed 16 bags at the show, including rucksacks, weekend
bags and totes.
Gucci's Frida Giannini showed opaqued crocodile, ostrich and python
skin oversized bags and totes, as well as bags wrapped around the
body with parachute-like closures.
Loafers or high-top sneakers, thin silver chains and light plastic eyewear completed an overall sporty look - white slim tailored suits with colour ties and printed shirts, pocket fronted jackets, loose-hip trousers and deep blue silk tuxedoes.
Versace was inspired by the Tuareg people and north Africa for its accessories. Models, dressed in suits with loose tunics in neutral colours and leather sandals, wore woven leather belts that were wrapped around several times, work bags or clutches, silver and plaited leather jewellery and sunglasses.
At Armani, models carried small cases and white-rimmed sunglasses. Dolce & Gabbana added caps, square-shaped sunglasses and small square-shaped bags to their look for next spring.
At a time when the credit crunch crimps spending on luxury goods, designers are increasingly aware that jewellery, hats, shoes and bags give shoppers without the spending power for a red-carpet outfit a way of buying into their favourite brand.
"People are getting more interested in accessories than they used to be," Gildo Zegna, chief executive of luxury menswear brand Ermenegildo Zegna, told Reuters.
"There is room to grow in particular in emerging markets - China, the Middle East, Latin America ... If you are well positioned there, you can take advantage of that and the new customer wants to experiment with new shopping."
Zegna models wore raffia hats, featherweight ties resembling summer scarves and vintage-look sunglasses. Some had harness-like coat carriers, made up of belts and worn over-the-shoulder.
At Vivienne Westwood, models wore masks, turbans, eye patches and even carried plastic swords for a collection that looked in part to 1920s Hollywood.
