WALLET BE ENOUGH?
For as long as men have had money, it seems they have carried it in some sort of wallet. The very size of a wallet and its placement in the hip pocket are somewhat limiting factors for just how much stuff can be carried.
Some men feel compelled to carry more than others and we are sure you have seen the spectacle of the hip pocket filing cabinet. We have a friend who apparently never throws any paper out or files it away in anything except his wallet. Given a challenge, we'd bet he could pull out an electric bill receipt from 1972 or a schematic diagram of his car's electrical system.
Weighing in at about two pounds, this near diaphanous piece of leather wrapping covers an assortment of paper about 2 inches thick. At one point, he actually started to putting a rubber band around it, presumable to shrink its profile a bit. The rubber band did nothing for the Quasimodo-butt effect, however. We can only guess what it was doing to his posture.
Thick or thin, leather is the preferred medium. Cloth wallets with Velcro closures just don't cut it. For one thing, everyone within 50 feet knows when you open it. Face it. "R-r-i-i-p-p-p" is an annoying sound.
Then there are those odd wallets worn by truckers or bikers. They tend to be large enough to stick out of the top of the pocket and are invariably chained to their owner. The added length ensures the owner can pull out the wallet while seated in a vehicle or on a seat without too much contorting or leaning out the window. The chain, well, it has obvious anti-theft benefits, but it also makes a dropped wallet easy to retrieve. Historically, by the way, the trucker-biker wallet shape and styling dates back to the 18th-century.
For the height of sophistication -- so we are told -- you should forego the giant economy size and go for a mini-wallet that holds only your driver's license and one credit card. It's accompanied by a money clip in a front pocket.
By the way, don't make the mistake of getting a magnetic money clip. When these get too close to credit cards they can de-magnetize them, sucking out their identity and raising suspicions among retail clerks and waiters.
Over-the-shoulder wallets? They came and went in the early 1970s, thank you very much. They sure looked like purses, even if they did carry more stuff. Men should leave the carry-all concept to women and their handbags.
That's one thing to be said for wallets: they don't need to match your shoes.
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