All products featured on Vogue are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
Much ink has been spilled over the rise and fall of the It bag, but things were pretty clear-cut at Tokyo Fashion Week. There were no clunky box bags in sight and no ladylike top handles; even New Yorkers’ go-to cross-bodies were in short supply. Bags were rarely the story in any of the photographs Kira took for Vogue Runway, in fact. Tokyo’s most stylish guys and girls took a different approach to storage, tucking their belongings into utility vests, harnesses, belt bags, or simply jackets with enormous pockets. Who needs a $4,000 tote when all the stuff you need—phone, keys, wallet, and show tickets—is secured snug against your body?
We have a feeling convenience wasn’t really the draw, though. The uniformly black, silver-buckled looks we saw evoked a survivalist sensibility our Vogue Runway colleague Steff Yotka coined “warcore” last year. It’s a trend that trickled up from the streets and onto the fall 2019 menswear runways, including Prada, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Balmain, Dior Men, Ambush, and Dries Van Noten. Miuccia Prada said she wanted to offer clothes for “a very tough world”; Kim Jones’s luxe tactical vests resembled armor at Dior Men; and Ambush seemed to nod to a dystopian future. All seemed to suggest that in this day and age we should be ready for anything—only take the essentials you can keep safely on your person.
Tokyo Fashion Week street style has a history of being on the cutting edge of trends, so you can expect to see more apocalyptic gear in the months to come. Get started with Ganni’s zippered cotton vest or Amiri’s suede harness, among other options below.
