Crossbody bags are over – big bags are back: How to dress like an adult with SHANE WATSON

My position on bags – I may have already mentioned this – is useful in every respect.

Things were different in the 1990s and early '90s because that was the era of It bags, when bags (sounds a bit crazy now) were the hottest fashion item in town.

But even then I pushed past the dinky Fendi Baguettes and headed for the large Mulberry bags – usually a cross between a tote, a briefcase and an overnight bag – and always big enough for a pair of shoes and a Christmas turkey.

I like a bag with a chain or a few studs, something that gives a regular blazer or sweater a zip, but these days my handbag is a satchel or a backpack 99 percent of the time, and fashion bags no longer. register on my radar for longer.

I walk straight past it, to the shoes and sunglasses, and don't think anything about it.

Good. After all these years of bag blindness, a number of new developments have caught my attention. On the catwalk at Miu Miu, the models wore overstuffed open suitcase bags under their armpits. This doesn't mean we all have to pack our bags, but it did send a strong message that bags are moving in the direction of roomy and useful, not decorative and sweet.

At Loewe there were gigantic tote bags and bulky hobo bags – those crescent-shaped designs – that stretched from armpit to hip; at Bottega Veneta, all classic styles in woven leather were blown up to XL proportions and filled with the trinkets of everyday life.

And what was the bag shape that Phoebe Philo chose at the end of last year for the first collection of her eponymous label? A huge, oversized open bag (the XL Cabas) of course.

These bags have a bag for life that you won't get from a mini Lady Dior or a squashy clutch – especially if you're looking for ones that are big but not huge.

Good for the office, good for the weekend, good for the overhead locker on the plane, they have room not only for a toothbrush but also for a toiletry bag and a towel if you want to take that with you. (Although we have to be careful: we don't want back injuries, and you can even get those from a Mulberry Bayswater. All that leather makes them heavy.)

Which brings us to the super-sized bags on the High Street and what will really work. For a simple, black, large but not gigantic hobo bag, Wolf & Badger's black leather style is good value (£85, wolfandbadger.com).

Giant tote bag: A model walking the catwalk during the Loewe Womenswear show as part of Paris Fashion Week in March 2023

Ivanka Trump at Narita International Airport, also carrying a large black leather tote bag

Also good value is Mango's black leather short strap tote bag (£49.99, johnlewis.com) and H&M's glossy black hobo bag (£24.99, hm.com). This has a short and a longer strap, but you don't use the long strap: the bag you want now is not worn hanging on your shoulder or over your body, it is a 'hook on and tuck under your armpit' style , or you carry it by the handles at the top.

Even bigger, but perfectly manageable, is Cos' quilted hobo bag with a knotted handle (£135, cos.com) and Zara has a good hybrid cross between a hobo and a tote bag – it dips down in the middle, all the better to wear over your arm (£22.99, zara.com).

These are all smooth and polished, and black. If you prefer something soft and casual, opt for suede in a brown shade.

Mint Velvet makes a deep hobo-shaped bag with an adjustable strap in light brown suede (£149, mintvelvet.com) that is still structured and smart, or H&M has a more relaxed, light brown suede style with a short leather handle and a braided panel at the base (€35.99).

At the other end of the sloppy spectrum, Zara XL sells unlined wool bags with short leather straps (£49.99, zara.com). They're called maxi bucket bags, but they look more like something a sailor would pack around Les Miserables. They look great in navy blue or gray, but may be a little too relaxed for our purposes.

Any of these – apart from the wool bag – can be your bag forever. As and when you feel the urge to try something new, it will still come in handy on heavy lifting days.

And if you're worried about which bag to wear to an evening event, the answer is simple: keep an oversized clutch in your supersize bag and take it out after dark.