Saturday, April 16, 2011

Ready for a Murse

So I’ve been contemplating the whole man purse thing. From across an ocean, it seems quite absurd and irrational. From here, it’s amazing I’ve held out this long. Everybody’s doing it.

I can give you a full list of reasons... Pants too tight for wallets. Walking culture = no car to keep random junk in. ID cards and checkbooks much bigger than a typical wallet/pocket. Cargo pants out of style. Smart-phones are getting bigger by the day. Need somewhere to keep documents, USB devices, and phone chargers. It’s France.

My problem with them has not just been refusal to carry a purse, but also the fact that all of the ones I see simply look ridiculous. Like a long thin camera bag with leather straps. Seen the new iPad carrybags (which might bring the manpurse to the US)? They’re like those, but smaller and less hipster. I’ve seen a couple here and there that I could live with, but then can never find them in the stores. Well to be honest, I’d not yet gone into a store looking for one, but still.

Recently though, I saw a bag and I fell in love. It was navy blue leatherish material, shaped like a messenger bag but smaller. A cream shoulder strap, and this picture imprinted on the bag:
Now that would make me smile every time I pick it up. I love the A-Team. And when I’m home during the day, I can watch reruns in French anytime I want.

** An update, since writing this, I bought a man purse. Was out with my family buying something else when I saw a sac on a mannequin, said “I could live with that one,” and moments later my wife had found them on a rack. She pointed out the surprisingly good price, and I crumbled with no excuse ready. So I’m the proud new owner of a murse. Maybe someday I’ll put up a photo of it. It looks a little more masculine than the usual, but the problem is that inside it’s all purse. I can’t in good conscious call it anything else. There’s a spot for a cell phone, change, a checkbook... ugh. I can’t believe I’m doing this.

6 comments:

Jimmie said...

tsk, tsk, tsk

Kevin Eby said...

Crumbling, crumpling, confessions... seems like it really happened. I won't believe it until I see it.

MS said...

You must know that urban dwellers in the U.S. have been 'mursing' for a long time. My dad has one. You are in good, hip, manly company. Don't be ashamed.

Michael & Joe Joe said...

Here I am, at 10pm, and the purse is still laying on my bed with the tags on it. I'm over the idea of carrying it. I'm ok with it hanging on a hook next to my wife's. I'm beyond the cultural hang-ups of how it'll look, whether in Europe or in America (though I doubt it will be making trips across the pond with me). Yet I still cannot bring myself to actually sort out my change, credit cards, and license into their prepared spaces. Is that a spot for my chapstick? Noooo.... Perhaps it shall lay empty waiting on me.

Deborah said...

(as I'm wetting my pants with laughter) I'm a bit surprised you've held out this long, after living in Africa . . . maybe it's just a west African thing, but I see men wearing women's pants and shoes all time here. Thank you GoodWill for shipping us all your leftover crap . . . and since only men wear athletic shoes and 'trousers'(and they're all a size 4) it just makes sense. :)

I wonder if you can get your LegoLand A-Team as an iron-on appliqué.

Michael & Joe Joe said...

Ha, you're right about the goodwill connection in Africa. East Africa had that too. I'd see men in women's pants and shoes all the time, and I loved jackets with shoulder pads. Here in France they go pink by choice, there they didn't know better.

Our market in TZ seemed to have a direct line to an Ohio goodwill, as everyone was wearing Cincy Reds and OSU shirts. And when my parents visited, they were shocked to see someone wearing a "vote for so-and-sofor city council" t-shirt, a friend of their's in a pretty small race.