Most Practical Bag??

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dhampson

dhampson

Member
Jan 20, 2013
475
41
#1
What is your most practical bag? Your workhorse bag?

Last year I really became interested in buying nicer bags, however now I am looking at all my purchases and think that some were a waste of money. A lot of them are not practical to my everyday lifestyle.
I live a life that is casual, rarely dress up, and work in an environment where a nice bag would not be appropriate, however I have purchased quite a number of fancier, business-type, heavy bags.
I also live in Boulder Colorado where fashion is more outdoorsy (think REI).
I am trying to focus now on more practical bags that will get more use.

What is your practical, work-horse bag that you couldn't live without? What bag do you use to go shopping or just hanging out around town?
 
#2
have you checked out mz wallace bags? they are lightweight with multiple compartments. water resistant, yet stylish. i also like orla kiely bags a lot, in particular the canvas coated ones. fun patterns and again lightweight and water resistant. PS1s also are pretty functional and have a casual chic vibe about them but of course those are way more expensive.
 
#3
My everyday "go-to" bag is a vintage Coach bag -- black drawstring/backpack style. I can wear it with dressy-casual attire to weekend casual (nice pants, or nice jeans, but not sweats or hiking type pants -- as it's definitely more on the dressier side of that). I LOVE this bag. Coach has a few backpack styles on their site (diff from my vintage one, but still very nice).

I think a Coach crossbody bag would work nicely for you if you tend to wear more "comfy casual" or even sporty casual. And definitely most of the Coach Classic lines (ie, Legacy, etc) would work well for more casual looks. The leather wears like iron! I LOVE Coach for it's durability.

My oldest Coach bags (over 20+ yrs) still looks amazing (but I do take good care of them with regular conditioning).
 
#4
diram said:
My everyday "go-to" bag is a vintage Coach bag -- black drawstring/backpack style. I can wear it with dressy-casual attire to weekend casual (nice pants, or nice jeans, but not sweats or hiking type pants -- as it's definitely more on the dressier side of that). I LOVE this bag. Coach has a few backpack styles on their site (diff from my vintage one, but still very nice).

I think a Coach crossbody bag would work nicely for you if you tend to wear more "comfy casual" or even sporty casual. And definitely most of the Coach Classic lines (ie, Legacy, etc) would work well for more casual looks. The leather wears like iron! I LOVE Coach for it's durability.

My oldest Coach bags (over 20+ yrs) still looks amazing (but I do take good care of them with regular conditioning).
Click to expand...

i'll also plug coach. i have 2 alexandra's and the size/weight and such are great and they do very pretty well, considering i'm pretty rough on my bags. and the pricepoint of course is good.
 
#5
owen spunkmeyer said:
have you checked out mz wallace bags? they are lightweight with multiple compartments. water resistant, yet stylish. i also like orla kiely bags a lot, in particular the canvas coated ones. fun patterns and again lightweight and water resistant. PS1s also are pretty functional and have a casual chic vibe about them but of course those are way more expensive.
Click to expand...

Ah, those MZ Wallace black nylon bags are lovely. In particular I really liked the Baby Jane, however $400 for a nylon bag is a bit much for me to take. Is the quality worth it?

I have to pass on the Orla Kiely just because they are patterned and I'm detoxing from a stint with Vera Bradley.

I didn't check out the PS1 line because you said they were expensive, so I'm sure they will be out of my price range.

Thanks so much.
 
#7
diram said:
My everyday "go-to" bag is a vintage Coach bag -- black drawstring/backpack style. I can wear it with dressy-casual attire to weekend casual (nice pants, or nice jeans, but not sweats or hiking type pants -- as it's definitely more on the dressier side of that). I LOVE this bag. Coach has a few backpack styles on their site (diff from my vintage one, but still very nice).

I think a Coach crossbody bag would work nicely for you if you tend to wear more "comfy casual" or even sporty casual. And definitely most of the Coach Classic lines (ie, Legacy, etc) would work well for more casual looks. The leather wears like iron! I LOVE Coach for it's durability.

My oldest Coach bags (over 20+ yrs) still looks amazing (but I do take good care of them with regular conditioning).
Click to expand...

Thank you. I love the Coach classics line. In fact I was looking at the Stewardess bag, but wanted it to go crossbody. I found a similar bag from Fossil that was the same size and style, did go crossbody and was half the price-so I bought that. The Fossil large Austin Flap.

I'm planning a trip to the Coach outlet at the end of August so I will be on the look out for any Legacy deletes. I just need to remember - not too fancy of a style.
 
#8
dhampson said:
I didn't see the Alexandra on the website. It must have been discontinued, bummer.
Click to expand...

dhampson said:
Ah, those MZ Wallace black nylon bags are lovely. In particular I really liked the Baby Jane, however $400 for a nylon bag is a bit much for me to take. Is the quality worth it?

I have to pass on the Orla Kiely just because they are patterned and I'm detoxing from a stint with Vera Bradley.

I didn't check out the PS1 line because you said they were expensive, so I'm sure they will be out of my price range.

Thanks so much.
Click to expand...


yeah. i think alexandra are discontinued, but you can find them on ebay a lot. my friend's mz wallace that she (as a new mother) has used daily for the past year, has held up incredibly well. Generally folks in the mz wallace thread have nothing but good things to say about them. they do go on seasonal sale, so it might be worth waiting for that, if you do like the style.
 
#10
My most practical bags would be Lumi Supermarket in the XL size (pebbled leather, durable and comfy) and Longchamp Le Pliages, of which I own several in nylon and also 1 in leather. These make up the base of my bag collection, these are the bags I use most often and can carry them anywhere. My favorite casual higher end bag is my Mulberry Antony, which looks like any leather messenger bag and goes well with my casual, everyday clothing (jeans, Adidas Super Stars, hoodies etc).

I do love hobo bags and have been on the lookout for the perfect one for years - hobo is a very casual style so you can go pretty high end without making yourself stand out. Mulberry Effie is one of my faves, just hard to find preloved...
 
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