A Beginner’s Guide to EDC Sling Bags
How much are you carrying in your go-to daily bag?
Have a trawl through and ask yourself if you really need everything, every day, to the point of justifying lugging around a bag.
Chances are you don't. That raises a question worth tackling: at what point do the things you're carrying around to improve your day become a detriment?
If you've crossed that line, it might be time to change things up. And a sling bag-a small bag for the essentials-might be the way to do that. And yes, before you ask, these are also called 'fanny packs.' And 'yes', your dad did wear one. And 'no' you don't understand, because they've changed a whole bunch and they're having a resurgence.
So let's talk about it.
Code-of-Bell-EDC-Sling-1
What's a sling bag?
The crossbody sling bag is a modern tweak of an old idea. Picture the humble fanny pack. Now imagine you're wearing it on your back, slung over one shoulder. And there's a whole lot more style to it-and in some cases, more pockets and a diverse array of materials.
That's a sling bag. Style to taste.
Right now, these bags are surging through Asia, Europe and the US, buoyed with a lot of love from the streetwear scene.
The trend makes sense: sling bags are perfect in warmer weather (no more backpack sweat for you), they're a more practical alternative to things like tote bags for smaller items, and they provide more ergonomic options than messenger bags (over the shoulder for style, around the waist to distribute some weight).
They can also simplify your life as you go about your day. Less bulk to manage, fewer pockets to check for whatever it is you're looking for, and less impulse to fill space. Used correctly, they're about ease as much as they are about fashion (see also: the micro bag trends).
A Beginner's Guide to EDC Sling Bags
Unzipping the history of slings
You can't keep a good idea down-even if people haven't been down with that idea for decades.
The fanny pack or bum bag (in my native Australia, the former name has some eyebrow-raising connotations) has a long and storied history-going well beyond just being an example of the egregious fashion choices of the '80s and '90s.
People have been attaching things to their waist with a bit of fabric for centuries. From the sporrans in Scotland (those hairy things you see on the front of kilts-I'll emphasise "on the front of" here), to detachable ladies' pockets and countless other examples from around the world, the bum bag has a long lineage when it comes to carrying small things in a way that's slightly more convenient than carrying them in your hands.
Handbags became a staple for women with things to carry throughout the mid-1900s (and let's be real: sling bags and bags like them are 100% just a way to "masculinise" purses so dudes don't feel weird about carrying one) and the world of outdoor adventuring highlighted the need to have something reliable to put your stuff in. By the 1980s, people had really come around to this whole bag idea as a lifestyle choice.
It's not even an idea unique to humans-kangaroos have been using fanny packs for centuries, carrying their babies in pouches. Maybe that's why an Australian woman by the name of Melba Stone has been credited for inventing the modern bum bag in 1962. However, Jennifer Mason has found an earlier instance of the bag, suggesting that this might be an area ripe for scholarship.
History-of-Sling-Bags-(The-Rock)
It wouldn't be until the '80s and '90s that the creation really took off. The '80s style icon Neneh Cherry wore a fanny pack to the MTV Music Awards (has there ever been a more dated phrase?); Chanel glammed the bag up. Before you know it, they were everywhere and on their way to being a staple of '90s fashion (see: The Rock wearing a bum bag, proving their fame and that The Rock wasn't always the bastion of cool he is now) and gay culture by way of gym culture.
Then, of course, came the rejection. Neon fades and rollerblades break and, with them, fanny bags lost their lustre. Weird Al even made a joke about them, driving home the fact that the bags belong in the '90s. The bags made a brief attempt at a comeback in the 2000s via normcore, which is still as confusing to me now as it was then.
The problems posed by the '90s and 2000s didn't go away though, did they? Tech clicked along at a terrifying rate, creating an ever-expanding array of gadgets to carry around with us: Walkmans, Game Boys, and, of course, mobile phones and smartphones, those little omnipresent threats to society.
We need something to hold all of those things. Now we're here again. (As someone very much into gadgets and bags, I'm here for this.)
Fanny packs are getting fashionable, thanks to gorpcore, streetwear, the UK's grime aesthetic and an ongoing obsession with "working class fashion" (although it's probably best described as a pastiche of working class style, since the people rocking the clothes and writing about it all don't really seem to know what being "working class" actually entails). Rihanna wore one, A$AP Rocky did too and Supreme slapped their logo on one with Louis Vuitton.
History-of-Sling-Bags-(supreme-x-louis)
Here's the thing. It feels like people have been writing about how bum bags are "cool again" every year since they apparently went out of style.
That means a few things might be true: fashion could be on an even tighter circle than expected, writers might be desperate for something to complain about or comment on, or the bags never went away and it just takes one celeb to decide to wear one to set everyone off because we've latched onto bum bags as the focal point for all our shame about the '90s and its myriad mistakes.
I'm guessing it's all of them.
