How LeBron James finally brought me to carry a handbag

I have never liked wearing a handbag. Most styles did not match anything I wanted to wear. Some were too big. Or had too many fringes. Or too many butterflies.

Growing up, I found a handbag that I could tolerate on occasion. It was typically a kind of faux leather that I could wear as a messenger bag and that I would wear with me because that's what girls do, right? Right. But I have never used them for long. I do not like scholarships.

So, my fault was to wear a backpack instead of a purse, but backpacks are not viable in all situations. So when I could not get a backpack, I just put things like my keys and my wallet in my pocket. Honestly, it's not a sustainable life, but again, I do not like scholarships! In fact, I do not even like the word. It's a strange word. I hate the number of times I've already typed it.

I therefore spent the adulthood buying a lot of backpacks that never really did the job. That was until LeBron James changed my life. I've noticed that LeBron, last summer, basically wore a purse. This photo captured by the legendary NBA photographer, Cassy Athena, is one of the first to catch my eye.

Cassy Athena

Now, it's a purse that I will carry. LeBron is, in my opinion, one of the best fashion icons of our time, especially in casual sportswear. He makes his sweaty socks look good!

But with time, I started to notice him more and more. For a whole summer of his son's AUA basketball tournaments and until the NBA season, LeBron was wearing a version of this bag.

(Slide your finger to find more pictures of LeBron with this bag.)

Grid view

Over time, I began to see the trend everywhere, with men and women wearing different versions of the shoulder bag.

From Russell Westbrook.

To Breanna Stewart.

To Kevin Love.

You can easily find these bags on the Nike website. They are listed in the "Backpack" section of Nike, but it should be noted that no one wears them around the waist in 2019.

Are they for men or women? I do not know, and that's beauty. If you scroll through the bag section like this one at Urban Outfitters, male and female models will wear them. Head to other bag retailers like Adidas or Herschel and you'll see the same thing. A bag for everyone.

I've bought two this summer for my vacations and I have not removed them since. I'm wearing my new bag at the grocery store, at the movies and even just to eat a piece. My phone and keys slip right into the bag. I even took a disposable camera for two weeks in Europe, tidy in this bag. The scholarships are so practical! Who knew!

Anyway, we are in 2019. Like what you like, it does not matter what others tell you. Life is a little easier and happier that way. And I never repeat the word "stock market" again.