The Enduring Appeal Of The Carabiner In Menswear

If every menswear designer was concerned with addressing the reality of how most men actually dress, we would likely see far fewer who push comically oversize puffer coats and more who take their cues from, say, the business casual kingpins at UNTUCKit. Practicality is not always the domain of the creative type, nor should it be. But, every once in a while, innovative men’s fashion minds come together to solve a problem grounded in our collective, male, everyday struggles. “Menswear right now is obsessed with carrying shit,” says Jacob Gallagher, columnist and men’s fashion editor of the Off-Duty section of The Wall Street Journal. “That’s something that we’re trying to grapple with in a certain way.” God may have given us two hands, but He also gave us a desire to transport enough electronics and ephemera on our person that, in recent months, fanny packs were rechristened “cross-body bags,” “hip bags” and “belt bags” — or, if you must, “clout packs” — and given a fresh moment of functional fashion relevance courtesy of the devout trend revivalists at Gucci, Supreme and Balenciaga. This need to take it all with us may also explain why carabiners — metal clips with safety closures often used by rock climbers to attach to safety ropes, as well as by handymen and rock tour roadies to tote keys — are experiencing a quiet renaissance of their own. Read more at Fashionista.