Tropical Forest Rose Sweet & Candy Backpack

The flap is not the only way in

Two openings sit on the front, and they behave differently. The rounded flap lifts off two black straps with silver-coloured buckles, which is the slower of the two and the one that holds the main space shut. Under it, a zip runs the width of the pocket and takes a single pull to open, which is where a phone or a ticket ends up. A knotted cord on each side lets the body of the bag out when it is full and pulls it back in when it is not; the ends stay loose rather than tucking away anywhere.

A powder pink backpack with a fern print, 28x28x12 cm

28x28x12 cm puts this bag in the daypack bracket rather than the weekend one. It is as wide as it is tall, and shallow enough front to back that it sits flat against a coat instead of standing off it. That shape suits a commute, a day of errands and an afternoon out; a laptop bag it is not. The handle stitched across the top matters more than it looks: you lift the bag onto a café chair with one hand, then go back to the straps when you stand up. If the shape is what you are still deciding, the section that groups the two-strap models is the place to compare.

Pink at the front, camel at the back

Powder pink and black take the front, with a printed panel below the mid-line: a fawn to the left, a spotted leopard in the bottom right corner, and ferns, palms and small flowers filling the space between them, in pink, grey and coral. Turn the bag round and a camel band appears down the centre, which is the one colour the front does not use. A vertical zip on the left panel opens the second pocket, and a black strap crosses the back at mid-height to guide the two shoulder straps through their silver-coloured sliders.

Two pockets, and what they hold

Both pockets that the photographs show are zipped. The front one runs across the width, under the flap. The back one opens on the left panel, close to the body when the bag is worn, which is the usual place for a card holder or keys.

Wearing pale pink rather than black

Pale bags ask for a little more thought than dark ones, and get more back. Powder pink lifts a grey coat, raw denim or a cream knit, while the black flap and straps stop the whole thing reading as sweet. The camel band finds its match in tan boots or a brown belt, for anyone who wants to carry that colour through. To see how the same drawn-front idea works in other colourways, the whole drawn-front series this one belongs to sits on a single page.