One bag that becomes three is a design problem before it is a fashion one, and Momodesign solved it in nylon and PVC. Carry it on two shoulders and it is a backpack. Sling it on one and it is a sports bag. Take it up by the top and it is a rucksack for a weekend that turns into a week.
This magazine recorded the object at the time: rounded forms, an unapologetically sporting silhouette, and a great many flexible outside pockets. Pockets are what make a convertible bag work rather than merely fold. Shoulder straps padded. Zips water-repellent. Every fastening heavy duty. The point of that specification is that a bag asked to do three jobs takes three kinds of punishment, and the failure is always at the seam or the slider.
Momodesign is a Milanese house, founded in 1981 as a design studio for people who live the city on two wheels and beyond. That brief explains the whole catalogue. A helmet and a rucksack are the same brief: light, tough, and worn at speed by somebody who has to look presentable at the other end. The range today runs to motorcycle helmets, backpacks and travel lines, scooters and clothing, and the backpacks are still sold direct at momodesign.com/pages/zaini.
The original is long gone from the shelf. Its argument is not. A bag that changes shape is worth more than three bags that do not, and Milan has been making that case for four decades.
Related: Valextra presents a bag for all occasions
For the opposite school, hard cases and brass locks, read the story of Globe-Trotter.