Call Me a Convert: I’m Now a Big Backpacker

Lately, I’ve been really into the idea of a pouch. 

You know, those chic, buttery, soft, under-the-arm accessories that require a limb to be dedicated to carrying them at all times and oftentimes cost as much as one, too? The epitome of laid-back luxury that instantly proclaims you have a chauffeur in waiting? One that oozes authority and femme formidable – I’m a woman, hear me roar?

Yep, that’s the one. And even though I don’t actually own a real specimen of these assertive accouterments, I have found solace in holding onto my existing roundup of totes and satchels à la the high-fashion model, i.e., scrunched up into the crook of the arm like a colossal clutch, not a care in the whole wide world.

Perhaps for this reason, it came all the more as a shocker when an educational excursion I left for recently as part of my final year credits stipulated a backpack! In an instant, all the traumatizing recollections from high school were back in full force, and I was left gasping for my breath.

How was I, the backpack-hater at heart, to navigate this new challenge the cynical fashion fairies had so cruelly decided to throw my way?

A Question for the Ages

If you know me, you know that right from the outset of my journey as a collector, I’ve been opposed to the very idea of a backpack, the fundamentally mule-adjacent, sack-bearing epitome of modern-day hustle culture (RIP Wall Street finance bros).

And I’m not alone in my aversion towards the accessory.

Since Miuccia Prada’s high fashion-ification of the backpack way back in the 80s, they only returned next to the fashion scene in the mid-2010s, when it suddenly seemed like every brand out there was trying to sell us one of these co-ed carryalls, much to the (justified) dismay of a not-insignificant portion of PurseBlog readers.

After all, we’d thought the rucksack had been safely left behind in grade school. 

Yet here it was again, receiving the mini-treatment from Louis Vuitton and Fjällräven alike, made into one-shoulder sling bags to euphemize its not-so-subtle, juvenile undercurrents (Is it a backpack? Is it a fanny pack? Who can tell?), and even getting spray-painted on by someone at Chanel (possibly Karl Lagerfeld, but I refuse to believe that) to go onto sell for $23,000 (yes, you read that right).

Nonetheless, like every other trend we’ve hated in the past, the hysteria around the holdall reached critical mass around 2019, before our very own Kaitlin officially declared it over in 2021; thank heavens. 

Back Into the Backpackers’ Pack

Like most regular fashion people, I, too, rejoiced at the “fashion death” of the backpack. Because it isn’t quite a purse at the end of the day, it isn’t limited to school (at least, not anymore, courtesy of Ms. Prada), and neither is it appropriate in a workplace context. It simply occupies the murky middle ground that’s uncomfortable for everyone involved.

And now, this involved me since I was required to have one on our excursion. 

Of course, like every novice collector, I too had gotten my hands on a (small-ish) metallic Burberry Rucksack on resale for a steal early on (who among us hasn’t been there?) – more to relive my Cher Horowitz fantasies than anything else. 

But, as fellow PurseBlogger Kristen Pyszczyk rightly notes, there are times when you need a backpack that’s “going to be more Cheryl Strayed in Wild than Cher Horowitz in Clueless.” A field trip to the remotes of rurality would be one of those times. Did that mean I would give up on style so easily? Nope. 

Enter – my latest acquisition, an MCM Stark Visetos backpack in black monogram. Spacious enough to cart around my laptop, water bottle, umbrella, AND an extra pair of jeans (not to mention spares of the unnamable), the piece proved to be (a heavy but also) convenient and fashionable solution to my dilemma.

Could it be that I was back into the backpackers’ pack yet again?

Is Convenience the Ultimate Luxury?

Now, not just over the course of the ten days of our trip, but since having returned as well, I continue to find myself smitten by my new acquisition. So much so, in fact, that I’ve gone on to dig out and style my old Burberry in that quintessentially cool kid-adjacent, one-shoulder sling, too!

So, color me surprised, but I’ve realized that flash-in-the-pan trend or not, perhaps backpacks do have a place in my wardrobe after all. 

Does it make me look like I’m constantly commuting, even when traipsing around town? Absolutely. But does my monogrammed MCM number, studs and all (and not to mention a giant middle finger to stealth wealth and any semblance of minimalism) look swanky when doing that? A resounding yes!

And where backpacks succeed over other purses is purely in place of their functionality. Sure, as SSENSE’s head of digital content, Steff Yotka, says, “I think the epitome of wealth is being able to sacrifice one appendage to only carry an accessory. It just implies someone else is around to do all the things you might need two hands for a drive, open doors, carry groceries.” 

But then again, it could just be that the freedom of having both hands to yourself is perhaps the ultimate crux of luxury (at least, for us plebeians). 

Now, should you choose to carry it unceremoniously, a veritable Pilgrim-style sack on your back, or like that infamous Prada from 10 Things I Hate About You (“I like my Skechers, but I love my Prada backpack”) is entirely a personal choice. 

After all, so what if I’m slinging my snazzy new backpack with scuffed sneakers and faded denim? In my mind, I’m still living my best life, and that’s what counts.