All the kids are tromping to school toting backpacks, but the carryalls don’t have to be reserved for students.
Consider the advantages of a backpack. First, the practical: Hands are free to carry an iced latte while texting. Next, the physical: A backpack completely changes your stance. Shoulders suddenly look more toned, and you take on the air of someone rushing to work from a mixed-martial-arts class — even if you’re onlybrushing donut crumbs off your lapel while heading from car to elevator.
Backpacks are enjoying a resurgence not seen since the early-’90s era of the black nylon Prada with triangle nameplate.
This season, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and, yes, Prada all offer luxe, logo-ed versions. And outfitters such as REI and The North Face stock backpacks no matter which way the fashion compass happens to point.
The movement has high-powered endorsements. Kanye West’s custom Damier Azure reportedly took a year and a half to make and set him back $15,000. The Sartorialist blogger Scott Schuman, documenter of street style and zeitgeist, has snapped backpack wearers from Miami to Moscow. And the much-photographed Maddox Jolie-Pitt favors a lime green JanSport (though his may actually be carrying schoolbooks).
Style choices tend to fall along stereotypes. Are you a Bear Grylls type, braving the elements in a tropical- wool suit and gadget-friendly North Face, ready to set up camp after the conference call? More Rahm Emanuel, BlackBerrying nonstop, your entire existence safely stowed in an understated brown leather Samsonite? Or maybe an aspiring Zac Efron, working a Gucci with detachable wallet chains and believing your own press?
Or perhaps you’re just a guy on his way to work, wanting to survive summer and not look like everyone else. That’s an option, with daypacks and rucksacks available for skateboarders, Internet surfers and boardroom scions. Whichever pack you choose, commit. Shoulder both straps and hit the trail.
