"You know what you look like to me, with your good bag and your cheap shoes?" Lecter hisses at Starling early in The Silence of the Lambs. "You look like a rube. A well scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste."
It's one of the great lines in the movie, because it does so much to describe Starling. I know exactly how she came by her good bag (and so does Lecter). She's read those articles about building a wardrobe of classics, about investing in those few items that provide authority and style without ageing, that will stand by you for years. Maybe the bag is the only good piece she has so far, but she loves it, and she takes care of it, and it represents everything she's working so hard to achieve.
I bet you Starling's bag isn't covered in Coach logos.
I've been trying really, really hard for the last 18 months or so to spend mindfully. No more impulse buys or stuff I'll only wear a few times - just a few well-chosen pieces that will work well with other things in my closet and earn their keep for a long time to come. (For what it's worth, the system is working very well. I think I spend considerably less than I did in my impulse spending days, and I like the clothes better, even if it's sometimes hard to pass up something I would have grabbed off the hanger a couple of years ago without thinking.)
I've been trying really, really hard for the last 18 months or so to spend mindfully. No more impulse buys or stuff I'll only wear a few times - just a few well-chosen pieces that will work well with other things in my closet and earn their keep for a long time to come. (For what it's worth, the system is working very well. I think I spend considerably less than I did in my impulse spending days, and I like the clothes better, even if it's sometimes hard to pass up something I would have grabbed off the hanger a couple of years ago without thinking.)
A bag was on my list, and a few months ago, after thinking about it a long time, I found one I loved. It's by Kooba; I can fit a water bottle and a Kindle in it; it's soft but it has some structure and interesting details; - and it hasno visible logo. I love it so much that when I started thinking that my next investment piece would be a more formal, structured bag, I looked at the new line of Kooba bags. But they've just added a conspicuous metal badge to the front of every bag, and so reluctantly I must strike them off my list of candidates.
To each his own, and lots of people like bags with logos on them and I hope they enjoy them. But if you don't, it gets harder every year to find a bag or great sunglasses that aren't covered in branding. It's driving me nuts!
(The Louis Vuitton towel, headbands, and wristbands, by the way, can be yours for the attractive price of $325.)
2 comments:
I hate it too right down to Old Navy.
I'm with you. I ended up getting a new tote about 6 months ago because I take my work computer home at night and hate laptop bags--I found a nice heavy-duty, attractive and logo-less bag at Boden. It's good quality but definitely not an investment piece (it was $148, I think).
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