For a long time, the rules of menswear were fairly easy to follow. A watch. A 

briefcase. Maybe a leather weekender.

The handbag belonged somewhere else.

Not anymore. Some of the most closely watched men in fashion are carrying bags once firmly associated with womenswear a Birkin on a footballer, a miniature Chanel on an actor, an oversized Bottega through an airport. And perhaps the most interesting part is how little explanation comes with it. The bag isn’t making a statement anymore. It’s simply part of the outfit.

JACOB ELORDI

Small bag. Six-foot-five man. Somehow, it works. Jacob Elordi may have done more for the men’s handbag than most carefully planned campaigns. His collection moves from oversized Bottega Veneta totes to tiny Valentino, Fendi and Chanel styles, usually paired with an otherwise uncomplicated wardrobe.

The proportions are part of the fun. A miniature bag against his six-foot-five frame shouldn’t necessarily work. He carries it like that question never occurred to him. And maybe that’s precisely why it does.

THE BOTTEGA YEARS Somewhere between accessory and personal uniform.

Of all the bags in Elordi’s rotation, Bottega Veneta has become something of a constant. The Andiamo in particular fits his approach to luxury: recognisable to those who know, but never desperate to announce itself. Different sizes. Different colours. Same nonchalance. At some point, it stopped looking like a celebrity carrying an It-bag.

ERLING HAALAND

The Birkin was never supposed to look this casual. Then there’s Erling Haaland.

Seeing one of football’s biggest names carrying a Hermès Birkin might once have felt like a fashion plot twist. Now? Not particularly.

In his hands, one of fashion’s most famous handbags becomes less about who it was originally designed for and more about the obvious fact that he likes it, he owns it, he carries it. No explanation required.

A$AP ROCKY

The bag was always part of the vocabulary. For A$AP Rocky, none of this feels particularly new. He has spent years mixing luxury houses, vintage references, jewellery and unexpected accessories without worrying much about which side of the store they came from.A bag doesn’t interrupt the outfit. It helps tell the story.

PHARRELL WILLIAMS

Menswear was allowed to have more fun. Pharrell has spent decades making traditional fashion boundaries feel increasingly irrelevant. At Louis Vuitton, that thinking has only become bigger bags are treated with the same fantasy, craftsmanship and desirability as the clothes themselves. Not a “man bag.” Not a handbag being worn by a man.

SO, WHEN DID THE BAG STOP NEEDING A GENDER?

Maybe when men stopped treating it like a conversation. What makes this shift interesting isn’t simply that men are carrying Birkins, Chanels or Bottegas.

It’s that increasingly, nobody needs to explain why. Bags have joined watches, jewellery and shoes as objects that communicate taste through shape, material, provenance and, yes, sometimes price. The old categories haven’t disappeared. They’ve just become considerably less interesting.