Collegiate course loads meet couture to bring backpacks back

I officially welcome all of you academically motivated — yet fashion-conscious — Blue Jays to a trend that will surely provide you with that much-needed balance between pragmatism and style that you’ve been searching for since the dawn of the dreadful oversized clutch and top-handle bag crazes this season.

You’ve been positively torn this fall: your embellished lunch bag clutches have been providing you the pop to your understated white button-down and denim looks all month, yet your Chemistry and Art History textbooks have been unjustly ostracized from your fashion life and have been desperately wondering: “Hey! Any room in there for me?”

Your frustrations have understandably intensified further at the sight of Narciso Rodriguez’s edgy color-blocked envelopes, Céline’s large fuzzy clutches and Miu Miu’s bold textured top-handle bags dominating your favorite blogs and your latest Vogue issue.

And so you have continued to relinquish the cushioned safety of your rented softcover copy of Plato’s “Phaedrus” at the expense of your dire need to perfect your minimalist style with that oversized and understated, yet just-embellished-enough clutch. But what if your aversion to the overly-practical collegiate backpack was completely unjustified? Four little birdies (by the names of Alexander Wang, Yves Saint Laurent, Christopher Kane and Phillip Lim) have recently transformed the backpack from a utilitarian book-carrying-device into a splendid accessory. Now, your dire need to brush up your minimalism with a staple bag à la Man Repeller, or your desire to play down your day-time bubble skirt with a hyperbolically austere bag can now be successfully accomplished without your oversized clutch. Backpacks are coming to your rescue. And they’ll even hold your books for you, too.

According to Tommye Fitzpatrick (one of the writers from the popular fashion blog The Business of Fashion) Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Christopher Kane have all launched their own lines of chic backpacks made in lush materials — such as calf hair and leather. The Row took its fascination with the backpack to the next level, presenting a line of ostentatiously luxurious patchwork fur and alligator backpacks priced at an impressive $16,900 and $34,000, respectively. Alexander Wang’s significantly less pricey $975 Marti backpack is especially popular among independent bloggers, fashion enthusiasts and celebrities, and was even recently seen being sported by Kate Bosworth. My personal favorite is New York-based designer Sarah Law’s plush, edgy-cool, lilac Kara backpack at $640, which was featured in Harper’s Bazaar’s September issue.

Daniel Silberman from New York’s accessories brand Illesteva, which recently launched its own backpack line, commented (as reported by The Business of Fashion): “They sold out on our online store. We decided to launch them exclusively with Barneys — we shipped two weeks ago and they have already reordered the backpacks.” So why the sudden fascination with backpacks in the world of high fashion? It seems as though just the other day, backpacks were reserved for hikers and students in possession of tons of textbooks. Apparently, designers have found a clever way to blend collegiate pragmatism with sartorial splendor.Or perhaps the collegiate vibe was a source of inspiration in itself, compelling the most renown designers to incorporate the laid-back academic vibe of the classic backpack into the existing cool understated minimalist look that has become so sought after.

Regardless of what was truly behind its inspiration, the backpack trend in high fashion has finally ended the brutal fight between Functionality and Fashion for good, in many respects. So next time you’re looking to hopelessly delve into your bag to retrieve Dostoevsky — and to look effortlessly chic while doing so — you won’t have to leave either fashion or function sitting alone on the side lines.