Man bags!

[oxcat1]

DH'a birthday coming up and I need to buy him a new bag. He was pretty resistant to the idea of a bag initially - preferred just carrying (and losing!) piles of paper - but has now seen the light! He's a classical musician, so mainly carrying around volumes of music, manuscript paper, diary etc, so doesn't need to be too commercial, but does need to hold at least A4.

I quite like the slightly retro/school look, but he's not so keen, I don't think. He wears almost exclusively grey & black, but I do think black leather can be difficult to look right. Budget not very big, so any suggestions welcome!

Is this nice at all, or have I lost it? Would the olive work with black or does it look cheap/tacky? Would like slightly lower price ideally too.

Thank you!

I'm not keen on the black fabric, looks like really bad fake leather (sorry!), DH has a satchel type bag in brown leather, it's really soft, but the downside is it's heavy. It came from Marks and is similar to this..

www.marksandspencer.com/Leather-Multiple-Pockets-Dispatch-Bag/dp/B003WMWH6I?ie=UTF8&ref=sr_1_60&nodeId=53809031&sr=1-60&qid=1308470874

But it's brown, I always think brown is better for leather man bags, as it just looks vintage when it gets bashed about, but black looks scruffy once it gets worn....but, that's just my opinion.

He also has a khaki canvas type messenger, from somewhere like Burton, but the canvas strap isn't comfy, when carrying lots of paperwork.

www.etsy.com/listing/44775040/duo-messenger-in-graphite

www.etsy.com/listing/45580467/minus-messenger-bag-in-pewter?ref=sr_gallery_2&ga_search_submit=&ga_search_query=mens+messenger+bag+uk&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade

Sorry, got to go, DH wants a cup of tea in his special mug, before he gets up......he's only getting away with it cos it's Father's Day.

Edit, sorry that last link has made the page go funny.

My dh has a nice brown leather bag from White Stuff. Not this season's, but worth a look.

Thanks so much - will look into those.

I agree completely about black leather, but DH had some sort of midlife crisis (31!) about this time last year abs made his entire wardrobe monochrome.
Actually, that's not quite fair: he has a bright blue rim around a pair of grey suede trainer-type things. That is the extent of the colour his wardrobe.

I know, i know....

Scaramanga! Google Scaramanga, they sell lovely bags. I don't think they have any black ones though......

Lol at the midlife crisis, but at least he has some idea. My DH has been known to go into Marks and buy exactly what one of the dummies is wearing from head to foot.

I really like this one:

www.timberlandonline.co.uk/on/demandware.store/Sites-TBLGB-Site/default/Search-Show?cgid=men_accessories_packs_luggage&pid=M2250&start=13&source=search&color=970

Please check sizing though...

These satchels are lovely, and come in lots of different sizes and colours.

Thanks for all those. I've gone for one of the rather gorgeous Scaramanga bags. They don't have any in black, but I'm hoping the blue lining might swing it for me. Well, it matches the shoe trim!

I'm not at all sure he'll like it, or that it will really go with his wardrobe, but i like it and it does offer returns!

I went for this one in the darker colour as the model appears to pull it off with black! More than i planned to spend but we shall see. I'll move on to the other suggestions after if this fails horribly!

Thank you!