Sweet & Candy Tropical Blue Backpack

Sweet & Candy Tropical Blue backpack: pale blue body, camel trim

This is a backpack that reads as two bags at once: plain and calm from a distance, printed and talkative up close. The body and the flap are a soft greyed blue with a grainy, leather-look surface. Camel runs along the edges, the buckled straps and the drawcords. On the sides, a printed panel of pale foliage breaks up the plain colour, and a small silver Sweet & Candy nameplate sits in the middle of the flap.

A closer look at the illustrated front pocket

The front pocket is where the bag stops being quiet. A fawn stands on the left, a spotted leopard prowls on the right, and between them sit ferns, stylised blooms and a round embossed medallion. Short handwritten lines in English run across the background in coral and blue. It is a busy panel, framed by plain colour on every side, which is what keeps it from tipping into fancy dress.

How the flap, the buckles and the drawcords work

The rounded flap folds down over two camel straps with silver buckles, each backed by a single rivet. A knotted drawcord hangs on either side and draws the flanks in. Under the flap, the illustrated pocket opens on a zip whose pull is finished in the same camel as the rest of the trim.

A 28x28x12 cm frame worn on the back or in the hand

Seen head-on, the bag is close to square, and at 28x28x12 cm it belongs with city bags rather than weekend luggage. The adjustable shoulder straps meet the base on silver rings, and the camel handle stitched across the top gives you something to grab when the bag is on a chair or wedged under a train seat. If the shape is what you are still weighing up, the other backpacks stocked at Mode Tendance make a useful comparison.

The view from the back

The second photograph shows panels rather than one continuous surface: matt grey down the centre, blue ferns on the left, the pale blue of the flap rising above. A horizontal camel band crosses the back and the straps pass under it, and a zip runs down the left-hand side.

Wearing a pale blue backpack without overthinking it

Cool blue with warm camel is an easy pairing, which is most of this bag's appeal. It sits happily against raw denim, a printed cotton dress or a beige trench, and the camel straps pick up tan boots or a belt in the same register. The grey back panel is the quiet counterweight to the illustration. For more bags in the same family, the leather goods section is the place to look next.