For anyone hoping that the backpack trend might be a true flash in the pan that would disappear at the end of the season, I have some news that might upset you: the Proenza Schouler PS Backpack is one of the brand’s most visible new designs for Fall 2013, and usually Proenza is toward the front end of trends like this instead of the back.
Not only is the design more proof that backpacks have yet begun to fight (Proenza is far from the only influential designer cranking them out for the first time for fall), but the bag’s look is another indication that the brand is trying to take its accessories aesthetic in a cleaner, sparer direction in this post-PS1 world we’re living in. The signature clip closure of the PS1 remains, as well as the school-satchel dangling straps, but the design as a whole has been lightened and streamlined. As an owner (and ardent lover) of an old-school PS1, I’m of two minds about these changes, even in backpack form. On the one hand, this is the direction that accessories are going in right now, and it’s important not to let popular bags get stale. On the other hand, I still really love the details of the original PS1, and I would be interested to see what they’d look like in backpack form. I bet it’d be pretty great.
So far, this backpack (termed the “large” version, so a smaller one is forthcoming, in all likelihood) comes in three colorways – black, white and the two paneled together, all of which retail for $2,150.
Proenza Schouler Large PS Backpack
$2,150 via Nordstrom
Proenza Schouler Large PS Backpack
$2,150 via Proenza Schouler
Proenza Schouler Large PS Backpack
$2,150 via Proenza Schouler
