Love it or loathe it, the bum bag is back for a new generation

Once fashion’s most derided accessory, the bum bag has had a makeover for our times.

Nick Grimshaw, radio presenter, and Lisa Aiken, fashion director of Net-a-Porter, sporting the bum bag trend.

Fashion sometimes likes to pull the superfine merino over our eyes. It thinks that by renaming even the most heinous of items with a fancy new moniker, it ­suddenly becomes something new and covetable.

Case in point: the “belt bag”. Or the “waist bag”. Even the “hip bag” in some circles. However, to those of us born before 2000, these ­accessories will be forever known as something quite different: the bum bag. To our American friends: the fanny pack.

There’s no denying we are in strange times, where Crocs can be worn down a catwalk and suddenly have cachet, and Lycra leggings are deemed “acceptable” as cafe wear. (To some, at any rate.)

But the bum bag, relegated to the back of wardrobes circa 1999, has had something of a physical makeover, too. It is no longer solely the preserve of American tourists and hikers, or only to be dug out from the back of that wardrobe for 1990s theme parties. Forget about those banana-shaped nylon zip-ups (in fact, in French the bum bag is known as “le banane”), the sort that in one Seinfeld episode Jerry told George that it seemed his “belt is digesting a small animal”.

Gucci at Milan Fashion Week.

No, now it is also a luxury ­accessory in luxury materials. For men and women.

And all signs point to the fact that we have not yet hit peak bum bag. In the US, this is the fastest-growing segment in men’s accessories, worth $US100 million in the year to September.

The recent spring 2018 catwalks were awash with bum bags, including Marc Jacobs, Balenciaga (they also went with Crocs), ­Valentino and Salvatore Ferragamo. Gucci went particularly hard, both in slightly retro-leaning ­examples or luxe leather versions.

Celebrities, too, are not immune to their charms. You could say the return of this once-derided item had something to do with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who three years ago posted a throwback pic of himself in his 90s best, including brown leather fanny pack — quickly prompting a “fanny pack rock” meme. Earlier this year, he posed for publicity shots for Saturday Night Live in an identical outfit.

A Balenciagan design at Paris Fashion Week. Picture: Getty Images

Sarah Jessica Parker was an early adopter in the fashion space, hitting the red carpet in 2014 in a Chanel belt bag. They’ve since popped up around the waists and slung across the hips of Rihanna (Chanel, again), Fergie, Cara Delevingne, Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto and Rosanna Arquette. In a new move, men are often wearing them across the body.

Ken Thompson, fashion director of The Australian’s Wish magazine, is “all for the bum bag”. “You can wear it either adhered to the body in the traditional fashion, but I would especially promote the cross-body application in a heavily logoed ode to the urban relevance of being on the go.”

Marc Jacobs Spring Summer 2018 Collection. Picture: Getty Images

Thompson believes that for men an outfit should be pared back to highlight the accessory. “I love the sports-derived utilitarian chic of a bag that is so hands-off,” Thompson tells Life.

Mr Porter buying manager Sam Lobban is another devotee of both the item and this styling in his daily attire. He says that its popularity is easy to understand: “When it’s hot, I don’t really want to be lugging around a (tote) bag or a backpack, and then when it’s cold, you want to keep your hands in your pockets.” While the eCommerce site currently has just two styles (Prada and Neil Barrett), that will change in the coming months as styles from brands ­including Gucci and his favourite, Japanese label Porter (no relation to the site), drop.

Women’s wear designer Virginia Martin of Bul dubs the cross-body approach as the “drug-dealer style”. While she says that’s a very strong look, she says that for women “you may as well be wearing a handbag if you’re doing that”.

Martin has included a bum bag in her current accessories offering, in black and navy iterations. “For me it started from a practical side of things,” Martin told Life. “Because of a sewing injury years ago, I can’t have anything on my shoulders. So initially I just designed it for myself and started wearing it around. Everybody was after it, so I put it in the collection. I find them so easy to access, your arms are free. It’s really practical and quite a cool little accessory.”

Sports girl ($29.95, www.sportsgirl.com.au), Off-White ($1345, net-a-porter.com), Gucci ($1395, gucci.com) and PB0110 ($515, matchesfashion.com).

The 33-year-old last wore one aged seven, by her estimation. While she’s not scarred by those 90s memories, she says the new styles don’t have any of that, um, baggage. “They’re a little bit different now, more a modern interpretation. Now it’s more like a handbag around your waist.” And they’re not just for casual days. “I use it as a handbag, so you can take it anywhere. Especially with something like ours, which is leather and has really nice brass hardware, it looks quite dressy.”

Thompson says that the bum bag — however you choose to wear it — has its advantages. “There’s just enough room to house the essentials for a mid-city trek to the mall, and it’s so light you can easily up-combo to a multitude of shopping bags at sale time.”

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Additional reporting: Jacob Gallagher, The Wall Street Journal