skirtcafe.org

Here's a selection of bags/purses I use...
1- my large bag for carrying things to work
2- my daughter's Ameribag (I actually have not used it yet, but I see men with them all the time and I would use it if she'd let me... hmm... may have to buy my own!)
3-Eagle Creek bag
4-Leather purse from Target Department Store
5-Locally made bag similar to #3 but with more pockets and places for pens.
6-Outdoor Products shoulder bag (I use this one a lot... holds larger things like my Palm and my glasses case)
7-Ellington purse (flap on front reveals 'office' type pockets and pen holders, many different not-easily-seen pockets) I use this one for school when I don't want/need to haul around my backpack. It will hold a couple of textbooks.
8-My Columbia fannypack... yep, I still use one occasionally.

wool slipper, Wah-Wah pedal, and iMac not available for public viewing

merlin wrote:Still very much an 'Italian' thing, I reckon. Never seen many carried in other European countries, not that anyone probably notices or cares?

Men`s handbags (=purses USA) are very common in France, which is where I bought mine. Also saw some in Spain. Man with handbag seems to be OK in GB too but I have nae seen too many.

Deleted.

I recently bought one of these messenger type bags from Argos (a UK catalogue shop). The "Rip Curl" brand is aimed at the imitation surfer dude market. My son (just turned 13) thinks it's really cool and decided to buy one for himself, though in the end he chose a slightly different design.

I have used it extensively, both in the UK and Italy, and no one bats an eyelid at it. It is big enough for all my general clutter plus a few odds and ends and works both for walking and cycling. To be honest I feel a little lost without it now.

Have fun,


Ian.

I carry what's termed a "manbag" every day. This is a shoulder-strap bag with zipped compartments. I'm not sure whether this is termed a "purse" is the US. It is very,ery common in the UK for men to carry shoulder bags, and sometimes even bags carried just by a hand strap. Frankly, we carry too much sh*t these days to do without one - phone, folding money, cards, change, keys, etc. It's that or super-bulge pockets.

I've got a bag I vaguely similar to Milfmog's Argos bag which I bought from the National Trust shop. I use it a lot. Strangely, my sister has exactly the same bag which she uses as a normal female handbag. For the record, we're not twins.

Charlie

So do you gents carry this with all the time like you would a wallet? Or just for certain occasions?

Men have been carrying "man bags" since the 60's at least, they came into style about the same time longer hair on men did, bags of some sort or another for men have been in vogue since the "hippie" days. I remember laughing at two men carrying "purses" on Fort Lauderdale's beach. They politely asked me what I could carry in my pockets and wallet and then showed me alllllll the room in their bags. That shut me right up! I've never carried one but do understand what use they can have, and would never chuckle at anyone for using one unless it looked extremely feminine.

Speaking from a strictly personal perspective, and having carried all manner of "high-tech" gear back in the 1970s and 1980s, I've found it vastly easier (and more humane to my tastes) to "travel light" nowadays.

I was an early adopter of many digital "companions" beginning with calculator watches, through various stages of "pocket computers", and a PDA (that's "Personal Digital Assistant" not "Public Display of Affection") or two. Those accoutrements provided amusement for me at the time, but ultimately not much more than can be attained with a simple notepad (the advantages of the notepad include the batteries never going flat). I find cell' 'phones useful in some situations, but for the most part mine is turned off for a large percentage of the time; it's a "safety-belt" in case my car dies by the side of the road and I cannot revive it on the scene (I drive an almost 20-year-old Nissan; I could do vastly better, emergency-repair-wise, on a 50-year old machine, but that's beside the point).

The upshot of all this is that I can carry my wallet in a shirt-pocket, and I don't mind hand-carrying my keys (a hefty pile of metal including keys that can activate any Data General or Digital Equipment computer ever manufactured, not to mention a bronze-plated coelacanth). So, all is well in this little corner of the universe. Eventually, if I find that I need to "travel heavy", I'll likely get a bag of some sort. The only constraint will be that I'll have to wear the strap transverse; my shoulders slope too much to properly hang a bag on the "same side" without epaulets on a shirt or jacket.

I used to carry paper handkerchiefs all the time, ( hayfever) in my pants pockets, and could hardly get them out, the pants were not toight, but normal, and as we know front pockets are sometimes very difficult to access. Skirts may have some more leeway, as they do not follow the thighs as do pants. I wear mostly skirts without pockets, and that in itself feels very comfortable, not having any things propped into the pockets, unpleasantly tight against me.

So We generally have a mobile, which you can better not sit on all the time, ( also very uncomfortable, ) some form of wallet for all soorts of credit cards, drivers licence, motor vehicle registration, passport or Identification pass etc, a handkerchief or paper examples, a comb, house key, most likely a bunch of keys, house, bycicle, shed / garage, car / motorcycle etc. And any number of other handy junk. a role of peppermint, Not even mentioning for smokers their needs.
And when men do wear panty hose, a pair of reserve panty hose, with cotton gloves, a pair of sunglasses, in a glasses box, and maybe something else. I wear my prescription glasses, and have my prescription sun glasses with me.

My mobile hardly ever gets used, but it is handy to have it with you. Why otherwise have a mobile?

So with all that stuff, whether it be a "man's" bag or anything else you like, a bag is darned handy.

I have all mu stuff in a handy bag with several small compartments, and take it with me everywhere. As always, be ware of thieves.

I have never had anything im my pants other than a comb and my handkerchiefs. Keys would wear out the pockets fast, and fel very unpleasant. Small change purses idem dito. Wallets, they get stolen very ese asily from rear pockets and we here in the Netherlands had up to now large papers for driving licences, which had better not be folded. So I usually had my papers in a wallet inside my jacket.

I am so happy with the bag, and I got used to it very fast. But Never forget it..I mean leave it behind in a store or someplace... It'l be gone before you can say.....

But it's not the fault of the bag, it's us having to have all that stuff with us.

So yes I carry my bag everywhere.
In the past I used to have a army issue canvas bag, but that had gotten worn out. Had my lunch in that too.

I just got a small bag that could be used by either men or women from Overland Equipment. It's smallish and has a shoulder strap long enough to sling it across the body leaving hands free. The front of the bag opens up into compartments for cell phone, pens a small pocket where I keep a small notepad, a change purse and a key clip. The main compartment has room for my wallet, a thing that holds various cards, my checkbook, a comb and a small flashlight. There's a slash pocket in back where I keep receipts and sunglasses. In a pinch I can fit a can of soda in the middle compartment

I have my first bag now. It is actually an Argentine mate bag designed with a tall center section for a thermos of hot water and side sections, one to hold the mate and bombilla, the other to hold a bag or container of the yerba. It was a gift from a relative in Buenos Aires. Since I don't much care for mate - it tastes too much like Yaupon tea, comes from a similar Ilex species - I use the bag like a handbag. It has a long enough strap for the shoulder, and is made of a buckskin type leather in dark brown, so it has a masculine look and feel to it.

sasq

I carry a purse at all times - (well, whenever I carry anything, that is, not while sitting at breakfast or lying in bed!)

It is small, and indeed would fit into a cargo pocket.

It was sold as a ladies wallet.

It incorporates the billfold section, a credit card section, and a pocket for my telephone. My mobile phone is my only phone, for business as well as personal, and is thus always with me and always switched on.

I fitted the wallet with shoulder straps and carry it over my shoulder like a purse. The straps are of a length that I can also sling it around my waist sporran-wise, which I do if wearing a kilt.

I hate having things in my pockets. Normally the only item in my pocket is my prized Parker 75 fountain pen, and that only because the current purse doesn't have a reliable pen loop.

Chris

PS: Oh, the contents of the purse? Driving license. Proof of automobile insurance. One credit card. Frequent Flyer card. Dollar-bill-sized copy of the US Constitution. Color guide to the international code flags. Faculty ID. Frequently my passport. And a small (postage stamp sized) mirror - which I use for looking backward down the aisle of the airplane to see if access to the toilets is blocked or not, also very handy in restaurants for looking over your shoulder to see what your wife is talking about.

I sometimes carry a bag.
The smaller is this leather bag in black:


The larger is this one from L. L. Bean:


Both have straps long enough to go across the body, and look, I think, somewhat unisex (gender-neutral? androgynous?).

Kris

I carry a messenger bag, but it looks like a purse. Its great!