It’s time for another wave of college and grad school students to begin making their way out into the full-time working world, and tradition dictates they do so with gifts from family and friends to help them embark on the next stage of their lives. Surely someone else in the family is already taking care of the Bed Bath & Beyond gift cards, so if there’s a new graduate in your life and you need to shower her with a gift, might we suggest a luxe-but-discreet new work bag?
Figuring out what sends exactly the right message for a young woman in a new workplace can be tough, and the changing American job landscape and the nature of work itself don’t make it any easier. The bag that would look right on a graphic designer at a creative agency would also look totally out of place on a newly minted litigator, and both would probably be too extreme for, say, a customer service rep at an insurance company. For all of those situations, though, a neutral leather bag without obvious branding would be an asset, and we’ve assembled those bags at a wide range of prices and for a wide range of styles, below. (Plus a couple of colorful pieces, for those of us who get to have some fun at work.)