HOLLYWOOD hunks are mad for designer arm candy, but can a regular bloke get on board with a handbag?
Writer Nick Harding gives it a go
Nick Harding has tried out the murse – a lady’s handbag worn by a man[/caption]
Brad Pitt was spotted carrying one last year in New York[/caption]
MY wife takes one look at the package that’s just arrived and sighs.
“What is it this time?” she asks.
“Murses,” I proclaim.
“What the hell is a murse?” she questions.
“Men’s purses,” I beam, as I pull a cheap Louis Vuitton-looking bag from River Island out of its wrapping.
She mutters something under her breath and walks off shaking her head.
My life as a fashion pioneer often involves stepping ahead of the curve — leggings for men, cropped tops for men, heels for men, lingerie for men. I’ve tried them all.
They often fail to translate to the mainstream, leaving me looking stupid.
But the murse — which is basically a lady’s handbag, held by a man — is different because it has celeb pedigree.
And it’s not just Les Dawson, or Les Dennis, or any other Les (Ferdinand, perhaps?) swanning around with one as part of an outdated drag act. No.
The murse has been embraced by modern-day fashion heroes.
Timothee Chalamet, Pharrell Williams, Harry Styles and Pedro Pascal have all gone full-Thatcher and hooked into the trend.
Top-end murses are not cheap.
The Bottega Veneta Andiamo tote favoured by Jacob Elordi and Pedro Pascal, for example, will set you back £4,600.
Nicholas Hoult’s Prada Buckle bag is around the same.
What this means is that, for the price of a deposit on a one-bedroom flat in Sunderland, you could own your own slice of fashion iconography.
A huge leather tote screams ‘macho’
Granted, a murse may not be as practical as a home in a former shipbuilding city in the North East, but it’s far more glamorous.
‘SIZE MATTERS’
And it will probably hold its value better if you look after it.
I didn’t have a celebrity budget, however, so I did the next best thing and scoured the net for dupes.
And while retailers such as River Island and Next would never admit they’ve made copies, their offerings share many design similarities with some of the big boys, but at a fraction of the cost.
There are a few rules to observe before a murse purchase, applicable whether you’re going for the full-fat designer version or saving your pennies and heading to the high street.
Firstly, remember that size matters. Ludicrously spacious bags are king.
There’s a place for a tiny clutch bag — of the type favoured by Pharrell Williams and Harry Styles — but these are best left for the young’uns.
If, like me, you’re a middle-aged man with a shaved head, people will assume you’ve just mugged a granny if you wander down the high street with a dainty handbag.
Go big or go home, and don’t worry about the haters.
Nicholas Hoult was seen with the Prada Buckle bag[/caption]
A huge leather tote screams “macho”.
Indeed, so many American footballers were seen with them at this year’s Super Bowl, Vogue declared that we are now in the “era of the men’s power bag”.
Even Travis Kelce was seen with one.
Then again, he could have just been carrying partner Taylor Swift’s bag.
And that’s rule number two. Own it.
Ignore the sniggers. If your friends laugh at you, they were never your friends in the first place.
And it’s with this attitude that I eagerly unboxed my selection and picked which ones to test out.
A word of warning here, type “murse” into an Asos search and you’ll confuse the algorithm.
In the world of commercial retail, there is no such category.
A murse is just a “lady’s handbag” carried by a man.
Except it’s not a lady’s bag any more.
‘MASCULINE STYLING’
It is 2025 and if a bloke wants a handbag, what’s the problem?
Anyway, you will find nice men’s tote bags, designed specifically in black with masculine styling.
But I wanted in-your-face fashion so grabbed the River Island one, £66, and New Look’s Bottega Veneta-style one, £32.99, and headed to the fashion mecca of Portsmouth’s Gunwharf Quays shopping centre to get noticed.
While Timothee Chalamet paired his chain-strap Chanel number with a puffer jacket, and Harry Styles prefers a bamboo-handled Gucci bag, I hit Burger King with my lattice leather New Look number and hung around the ordering section for a while trying to look relevant.
No one batted an eyelid.
I was hoping for admiring glances, but no one seemed to notice, even when I hung around outside designer bag store Coach.
It was only when I sat on a bench in a quiet part of town I started to get a few side-eyes.
And a wolf whistle from Portsmouth FC fans who wandered past.
I got more attention a few days later when I used a baby blue New Look buckle bag as my impromptu gym bag.
“Why have you got your wife’s bag?” a gym regular laughed as I stuffed my sweaty kit in it.
“It’s a murse, mate,” I sniffed, “Keep up.”
Nick’s murse did get some looks in Portsmouth[/caption]
I got the same reaction in my local, where I sat self-consciously sipping a pint and trying not to make eye contact with the regulars who were frowning at my choice of accessory.
But by the end of the week, I could appreciate the practicality of a bigger bag.
A cross-body man bag is too small to hold more than a wallet and a phone, and when you wear them, people assume you’re on a phone-snatching spree.
But tote-style murses have plenty of room for essentials — phone, wallet, glasses, sunglasses, copy of The Sun — and extra space for incidentals and shopping.
Which is how I found the perfect role for my favourite River Island number.
I now keep it by the front door for when I pop to the Co-op.
It’s much more bougie than a plastic bag for life.
MAN ENOUGH FOR A MURSE? TRY CLEMMIE FIELDSEND’S GUIDE
Green shoulder, £10, Primark[/caption]
Taupe shopper, £37.99, H&M[/caption]