One of my last impulse purchases of 2016 was this Mansur Gavriel Mini Sun Bag. My fever for Mansur Gavriel had cooled down quite a bit by the beginning of 2016, and I only had one MG bag in my collection (the mini lady bag, which I love but also found I wasn't using as much as I had hoped). So I really shouldn't have been buying more MG bags, but I just felt a structured bag was missing (yes, missing!) from my closet. I once owned the Saint Laurent sac de jour in small but ended up returning it because it was super heavy for such a seemingly simple looking bag. I wanted something similar but lighter. Enter the MG Sun Mini Bag.
I decided to get it in the vegetable tanned leather, even though Mansur Gavriel has so many more leather options now (tumbled! patent!) since I knew their veg tanned leather is the most structured and well suited for this kind of bag. Also the cheaper price point definitely didn't hurt.
The bag comes with two large compartments separated by a zippered section. This bag fits quite a bit (though not my laptop without sticking out over the handles). I love that it comes with a long shoulder strap (a must!) but that's also removable (and also adjustable). And the best thing about this bag is the overall lightness (like all of MG bags). There's nothing worse than a bag weighing 1-2 pounds empty!
For reference, the brandy mini lady bag on the left and the sun bag on the right.
And back to back. You can see that they're quite similar in size, with the mini sun bag being slightly deeper than the mini lady bag.
At first, I wasn't really a fan of the leather string tied in a bow in the front, though now it's growing on me (at first it seemed too cutesy). But other than that I can't find anything wrong with the bag. So if you're looking for a well-made lady-like structured bag, this Mini Sun Bag might be the one for you. You can find it here at Mansur Gavriel.
P.S. When I went to the MG site for that link above I just noticed that they no longer carry the mini sun bag in veg tanned leather in this style. The veg-tanned sun bags now only have 1 large compartment and it's not lined in canvas. They either have it coated in matte red or blue or have it uncoated. And now there's only a single interior slim pocket, no zippered pocket. As they have it now, I think I prefer this version with the lined canvas since at least there's a zippered pocket to contain all your loose items. It looks like the calf-leather version still comes lined (but the calf leather version is 1) more expensive, 2) a bit heavier overall since the leather is thicker and heavier, and 3) likely to wear faster where the top handles meet the bag (I used to own the MG crossbody in calf-leather and used it a lot over a year. By the end of the year the leather where the straps attached to the bag were all cracked and worn. From what I understand (thanks to a reader!) that only happens to chrome-tanned leathers not veg-tanned leather). But the new version of the sun bag does have that pop of color, which is what attracted me to the MG tote a couple years ago.