Clutches

I know I've written about vintage clutches before, but I might as well admit that they're a bit of a sick obsession of mine. Do you know why? Well, they're cheap, for one thing. At around $15 a pop, they're less than many of us (not me, but still) spend on lip gloss. They're also capable of actually making your outfit dressier or cooler, depending on the style.  Read More »

Among my many, many ill-fated personal style experiments was the period when I decided to become one of those women who carries a clutch on ordinary nights—at a bar, on a date, to birthday parties, etc. There are ladies for whom this works—they are usually fancy and look nice all the time and I bet they don't fill in the scuffs of their black shoes with Magic Marker. I am not them. My little evening bags were always overstuffed and misshapen. I'd carelessly discard them in puddles of beer and, later, when I picked them up, they'd leave wet, purse-shaped, bar-filth tattoos on the side of my boob. Not a good scene.

But there are occasions when one's enormous every day satchel will not suffice, when you need an elegant mini bag to pull together an outfit and look like a classy, grown-ass woman. For those events, I now own a handful of clutches—all of them metallic. The great thing about these pieces is they'll match anything I'm wearing and their designs are classic enough that they'll last me for years. Here are five of my favorites (that you buy can right now). Read More »

With the exception of when I'm out with women who have nice ones (wallets), I don't really ever think about the atrocity that is my billfold. I've owned this gigantess for years. It's brown and pleather and bulbous (a friend once told me it looked "pregnant") and packed with things I need but can't find and items from so far in the past (receipts from dinners before this millennium, a food coop ID card from a state I no longer live in), they're relics. My wallet is like an archaeological dig. And I'm just realizing it needs to be left behind.
The thing is, while I'm usually very cheap, I just don't want another so-crappily-made-the-finish-flakes-off-starting-on-day-two style. I want to invest in quality. The ones I'm dying for are below (I also think they'd make really great Mother's Day gifts). Read More »