[unpaid/affiliate] The most useful accessory I’ve ever found – a crossbody bag for your phone. I’ve ordered a couple already as gifts and I bought myself an Accessorize one as a ‘practice’ to see if I could get along with it before (maybe) going a bit more luxy. I mean, Christmas is coming etc ;-). Phone bags are currently selling like hot cakes – I was looking for one for Max at the weekend in actual real shops rather than on-line and a Uniqlo one I liked the look of had already sold out. They had none at Zara stores so I had to order on-line in the end. Phone bags are great for wearing under your coat – I never keep all my essential items in one place so my keys are in my coat pocket, my bank cards are in my jeans pocket, my phone is in my tote bag … if I was in an accident I’d be like a pinata. It’s my phone I worry about the most though – my whole life is on it whereas the other items feel more easily replaceable. The first image is from John Lewis HERE.
With this style of phone bag, you wear it as a cross body and it is completely unnoticeable under a coat unless you want it to be, so one moment it’s a secret item and the moment you take your coat off, it’s a fashion item. This one is £29 at John Lewis (who have a great selection) HERE.
Similar to this
This is a bit more fancy from M&S – it’s faux leather, comes in three shades: black, red and pink and due to the flexibility of the design, you’ll get your lipstick and credit card in there too. It’s £12.50 HERE.
This one is from Accessorize in their vegan range. On the back it has slots for your travel card or credit cards and a zip up wallet in between. At £15, I think this is a very good buy and the one I have is similar but in a black moc-crock. It’s HERE.
Uniqlo (having sold out of their other options) has this fluffy version that’s a little bit bigger so you can carry more about if you like (a fold up shopping bag just in case?). It’s £19.90 HERE in three shades – if you have teen gifts to buy, step right in! And also, going absolutely viral on TikTok is the below bag:
It looks small, right? It’s like a Tardis – I saw my friend Camilla pull a bottle of wine out of hers (neck slightly out of one end although if you have a bottle that’s rounded the whole lot goes in..) and immediately bought two!
(Lucy went straight to the shop and bought herself one as well.) Actually, one of them is perhaps for my mum – anyone elderly or with mobility issues who needs their hands free for sticks and so on – a godsend. It’s £14.90 in four colours (yes, including black!) HERE.
If you want to go super lux (secretly I do) these are the Anya Hindmarch versions at £295 each HERE. They have everything – a zipped compartment, a pocket for cards and a loop for charms. I mean…
So you can see that you can go as lux, budget, plain or fancy as you like – I love mine for when I don’t want to carry much about with me on walks or even on a night out where I can just rest it by my plate and it takes up no room at all.
Update: I bought the Anya.
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20 comments
Soooo lovely! Congrats on your Anya bag! I stupidly took my last phone on a large side (20cm length) just before all these cuties started to come out – and it does not fit in most of them!!! And it’s a bit stupid to replace your phone too early just because it is not fitting in the bag you yet to buy… *cries of desperation*
Thank you – it arrived this morning. Actually, I had a bit of a fright because mine is quite a big phone and it hadn’t occurred to me that it might not fit till you mentioned that! But- IT DOES !!
Wow, great! Glad for you, Jane! 🙂
thank you Anna :-))
I have two from R&B black and camel, I’ve had them for a few years now they are super soft leather and quilted with the leather chain strap – they are often mistaken for Chanel. They fit my phone and have card slots but tricky if you want to put in a pen – I hate sharing pens and almost lost my best one. Wear them constantly havnt used my big bags since CV. Love your posts
thank you so much! Yes, they’re definitely the best accessory – not sure why I’ve ignored them all this time! I have space for cards and a few little whatnots as there is a zip pocket behind – yours sounds very beautiful.
If you’re in the market for good but small pens, the Kaweco Sport range is so good. They are very small when not in use, but normal size when you screw the bits together (which is very easy). Well worth considering if you want a decent pen to put in a tiny bag.
Ah thank you I will check them out
Great post and so useful. I love the Uniqlo bag. I’ve ordered 2, one for me, one for a friend. I’m all for utility, safety, and keeping hands free. I recently ordered a phone bag from Amazon specifically for holidays, for a phone, card, cash etc. It really wasn’t very nice when it came but my phone didn’t fit anyway! So I looked at Accesorize and they had a few but one thing I really didn’t like, the slots for cards were on the outside on the back. Who would ever put their cards outside their wallet? A travel card maybe? Certainly not credit/debit cards. Anyway the Uniqlo one will do the job and more, phone, money, sunspecs, a wee bottle of Anthelios. And it will be light to pack by the look of it. Thanks!
yes exactly – it’s just SO useful! And accidentally trendy so it’s a win all the way x
Yes to all these – so handy! My version is a navy nylon Porter one. A bit bigger but with a short strap and goes flat under or over a coat. You can just put your phone in there or of you have a bit more, it has a couple of front pockets. Oh and a removable pochette inside.
P.s. “if I was in an accident I’d be like a pinata.” LOL
Thanks for tip!!
I love these! I have to carry 4 iPhones around at work. Would any of these bags be suitable? Many thanks
The Uniqlo small cross body would definitely fit that brief.
Oh no – now I’ve discovered the Anya Eyes collection I’m ruined!
I know – it was a call between the eyes or the green!
Ideal of Sweden have phone wallets with chains in lots of colours and styles for all phones – for something different
ooh thank you – will take a look x
I bought a Kipling one earlier this Summer as I wasn’t wearing a coat and had no pockets for things. I wear it while I’m out walking. It has room for phone, door key, lip balm, a few Murray Mints and a hanky which is all I need. Looking at that list its actually quite a bit of stuff but not nearly as much as I have in my tote bag. Strong men wince when they pick up my tote bag.
We literally can end up carrying our whole lives with us! I like the phone bags for making me filter what I really need and what I don’t – plus I always have a pocket somewhere so can take a little overflow.