Man Bag Monday    Valentino

Man Bag Monday: Valentino Rockstuds, Now for Dudes

We’ve talked at length on several occasions about women’s handbags and how they’re adapted to the men’s market, and here’s yet another example of exactly that: the Valentino Studded Leather Pouch it might not bear the recognizable Rockstud moniker, but you don’t have to be a fashion expert to understand this bag’s design lineage.

Despite the fact that studs are traditionally a somewhat masculine embellishment, it’s taken a while for Valentino put out a men’s bag with this many studs. There have been bags with a corner stud here and there, and perhaps because the construction of this clutch (let’s call it what it is) provides so many corners, this is as close to “Rockstud” as the dudes have come. That’s likely because, despite the traditional associations of studs, Rockstud bags are often almost hyper-feminine; the reason that the bags work so well is because the studs offset the ladylike feel of the designs. There’s little for studs to balance, when it comes to men’s design.

Beyond the issue of studs, there’s also the issue of the man-clutch. As always, I try to be open-minded about who can pull off which bags, and last week, I encountered a totally hot dude on the subway, looking well-dressed but not looking like he was trying too hard, carrying a man clutch. He didn’t look any more feminine than he appeared to be trying to look, which was somewhere around “not at all feminine”. So, now I know it’s totally possible to pull off a man-clutch in basically whatever way a guy wants to, although it must be said that being super attractive does not exactly hinder the endeavor. Buy for $1,245 via Mr. Porter if you’d like to give it a shot yourself.

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