W hen I was a kid I had a friend, Christopher, whose mother was German. Before he became a punk rocker Chris was a regular preteen schoolboy in his nondescript black-blazered school uniform, except that he would come to class each day with a brown leather backpack. At that time this was unusual.
The rest of us carried our books in bags you held by the handle — sports bags and even briefcases — but Chris looked like he was going on a hike. About a decade later I came across another backpack user, this one a little more grown-up. Paul Smith, as he was then, before his elevation to Sir Paul, had started importing luggage from Japan by the Porter brand.
This was the Eighties and all things Japanese were very cool, not least the collections of Comme des Garçons and Yohji Yamamoto. Smith was making his name at this time with his own brand of quirky British menswear and his Covent Garden store was a mecca for pop stars, artists and architects alike. One of the things that distinguished it was that the proprietor would bring back things from trips to Japan that he thought would appeal to his customers.
The black nylon and canvas bags by Porter from Yoshida & Co in Tokyo were among these..