The last decade or so has seen the proliferation among young men of what very witty people have named the “man-purse” or “murse” (which, if anything, sounds like a male nurse). This profligacy is an inevitable side effect of our current mode of dress, particularly two features of it: one, the lack of jackets and, two, the popularity of blue jeans, especially close-fitting ones. The reintroduction of jackets and classically cut pants into mainstream dress could eliminate the necessity for these bags, which are not terribly comfortable.
Consider the items a man must carry with him: a wallet, keys, mobile phone, flask, lighter, pipe, snuffbox, gun and lipstick. Now consider the available storage areas on the person of a contemporarily-dressed man: four pockets in the pants, all of which are pressed so tightly against the legs (this is true even with “regular” or “relaxed” fit jeans) that anything stored in them will be mistaken for an irregularly-shaped crotch tumour that has spread to the thighs, and possibly a breast pocket in the shirt. Even for one prepared to parade their crotch tumour, problems arise with the back pockets: anything that is not paper or a slice of fresh Edam will be subject to a undesirable amount of crushing in either of these rear storage areas whenever the wearer sits. Durable items survive, but cause considerable discomfort and potential long-term back problems.
Thus, even three of the many items essential to men in everyday life are a considerable inconvenience to carry. That is to say, to most men they are. There are still a few corporate fat cats out there working for the man and crushing dreams who are required to wear suits, or at least look as if they had been wearing a suit, but took off their jacket to fight and misplaced it. Jacket or no, though, their pants generally sit at the waist, rather than the hips, and hang from rather than grip the legs. I know this because I own three pairs of these traditionally-fitting pants. The difference in pocket bulge cannot be overstated. I am even able to retrieve an item from my pocket while sitting, a task which involves infinite frustration with jeans. Of course, I rarely wear these liberating pants, because I’m trying to fool people who don’t know me into thinking I’m cool.
The jacket (some might say blazer, suit coat, etc. I use the term here to denote anything that buttons in the front and has lapels) is more commonly worn by today’s young men, but is often reserved for special occasions. Daily jacket-wearers (excepting those whose dress is dictated by their employer) can be found in some trendy areas, but are far from the majority, which is unfortunate given the practical advantages of jacket-wearing. The primary advantage, besides the fact that it looks good, is the additional pocket-space. The inner-pockets are particularly useful when one travels and has to carry a passport. Passports are, infuriatingly, too big for wallets. I therefore have a passport case, which is too big for any of my pants pockets. It fits perfectly in the inner breast pocket of a sport coat, though. MP3 players are more accessible in jacket pockets and a thin magazine may even be folded in half and stored in an inner pocket without causing great discomfort (This works with Harper’s, but not Chatelaine, my sources tell me).
Despite these incentives, I rarely wear classically-cut pants or jackets and have little hope for the persuasive effects of this article (it seems unfair to drag a perfectly good word such as “article” into this, but I see no alternative). Not only are dress pants and jackets less than mainstream, they’re expensive. Thus I finish this argument as I finish most: convinced of its inaccuracy.
