Emotional Baggage Part One - Hayden-Harnett

Emotional Baggage: a series wherein I rave about my favorite handbags.

When I was a little girl, I would carry my Mom's old castoff kisslock clutch around the house, and dream of the day I'd be old enough to carry a purse for real. I've never lost my love of handbags, and my family members' and close friends' eyes often glaze over as I describe the charms of my favorite bags with a glowing reverence more often reserved for great works of art. Carrie Bradshaw had her shoes; for me it's all about the bags.

I've flirted with status bags and "it" bags; yes I've been out on the town with Louis, Marc, and Nicolas. But it takes more than a fancy pedigree, a pretty face, or having been seen on the arm of a celebrity for me to get emotionally involved. It's that elusive combination of design, style, functionality and personality which certain bags possess that draws me in and hooks me.


I was introduced to Hayden-Harnett bags a couple of years ago through The Purse Forum. Several of the ladies there had purchased HH bags, and raved about the quality, the design, and most of all, the leather. So I took the plunge and ordered the Mercer Satchel in black.





Since then I've purchased several more HH bags including the Mercer Satchel in Chalk, the Hudson Triple Strap Satchel in black, the Havana Hobo, and most recently the Suki in saddle during their most recent sale.


Hayden Harnett was started by Toni Hacker and Ben Harnett in Brooklyn, NY, and they've recently opened a brick-and-mortar store at 211 Franklin St., Brooklyn NY 11222. (718) 348-2247.

HH bags are probably some of the best-designed, most ergonomic bags I've found to date. I can't believe the number of high end bag designers (yeah, I'm talkin' to you, Marc and Miuccia!) who can't be bothered to include cell phone or PDA pockets in bags that will set you back a month's (or three!) mortgage payment. Not only does every HH bag I've purchased have multiple interior and exterior pockets, including the wonderfully slouchy Havana Hobo, but they're easy to access as well. No fumbling with buckles or straps, and zippers are anchored well to make opening and closing easier. Most of the bags have an edgy "downtown" vibe, but without a lot of prominent hardware that adds weight and makes so many bags look dated after a season or two. There's a lighthearted quality to the designs that I find so appealing; they're more Besson than Bergman.


The quality of materials and workmanship are outstanding for bags at their price point, and the little details (like the luggage tags, chain charms and optional tassels) help give the bags a unique quirky charm. The leather is soft, distressed on most styles, and holds up quite well. The "chalk" (a slightly greyish white) is the one white bag I'm not afraid to take out. The texture of the leather really does seem to repel dirt and stains.



Their new Fall collection looks lovely too. I'm really intrigued by the Bungalow bag in Yam, and the Mimi Quilted Satchel in Lead. I think the Yam color, as well as this Mercer Satchel in Currant would look so great with this fall's grey pallettes. So much temptation!

In a world of overpriced designer "it" bags, Hayden-Harnett's creations stand out for their style, functionality and, especially, personality.


Edited to add: Pssst!!! As of 8/2 they're having another sale!!! Free shipping!!!

Just Say No To Bad Fashion

Or, What Isn't Wrong with This Picture???
Via In-Style.com.

Those boots beg to be part of an ensemble that includes an eye patch and parrot.

Foodies' Night Out - K-Zo

If you had told me ten years ago that our sleepy little burgh, which we jokingly referred to as "Mayberry RFD, where they roll up the sidewalks at 6," would become a dining Mecca, I would've said you were dreaming. But thanks to some good city planning (at least in my view), we now have a bevy of excellent dining establishments all within a few blocks of each other.

The newest, Fraiche, has received a lot of buzz, and as I'd been told, is quite booked up. We were unable to get dinner reservations for Saturday night at the time that worked for our dining companions, so Doug and I went for a drink and to sample the bar menu before our dinner at K-Zo. We ordered a couple of charcuterrie plates, a nice prosciutto plate and the duck rillettes. We'd sampled the rillettes at Le Comptoir when we were in Paris in May, but the ones at Fraiche blew those out of the water. The prosciutto was also lovely, and both plates were served with wonderful olives (which we think are house cured). Fraiche also has a very special drink menu, the recipes all developed by the bartender, and utilizing secret ingredients from some intriguing bottles on the side of the bar. Doug ordered a Yellow Cab and said it was delicious and complex.

We then moved on to dinner at K-Zo, where we met up with Doug's brother and sister-in-law. We were seated in the the only booth, behind the beaded curtain. The chef/owner Keizo Ishiba was most recently with Sushi Roku, and the menu at K-Zo includes many cooked and French cuisine dishes, so your non-sushi-eating friends will have plenty to choose from as well. But it's the sushi that holds the spotlight for us. There is an extensive menu of daily specials, and we ordered primarily from there. My favorites were the Kampachi Carpaccio (thin slices of yellowtail drizzled with a light sauce and each topped with a thin slice of jalapeno pepper) and the Premium Toro sushi, which was so good we ordered a second round. We also ordered a large bottle of our favorite cold sake for the table. I can't remember the Japanese name, but it translates to English as "Chrysanthemum Water." Topping off the meal were an order of sesame ice cream and green tea ice cream.

We're determined to enjoy a dinner at Fraiche soon, and when we do I'll post my next installment of Foodies' Night Out.

Speaking of Hairspray...

The Buzz is all about the Beehive! Yes, that hairdo we all made fun of in our friends' older sisters' yearbook pictures is making a fashion resurgence, according to the L.A. Times.

THE beehive is back, proving that the '60s trend of summer starts at the top. But this ain't your mother's beehive. And lucky for us, today's spin on the inflated 'do requires less backcombing than the one that made Aqua Net a household name. This less-sticky version is a little more relaxed — think Bridgette Bardot's teased but tousled look, not Barbra Streisand in "Funny Girl."

My mom didn't sport a beehive; but from the time I was a toddler until the mid 70's, she'd go to the Le Coiffeure beauty salon every Saturday for a "shampoo and style" into a shorter, slightly curlier version of this "Bouffant" hairdo (especially in the early 60's, many women my mom's age idolized JK and wanted to emulate her style). She'd sometimes sleep with toilet paper wrapped around her head to hold the style (in the dark days before the electric curling iron for touchups) but no matter what, no brush or water would touch her head in between salon visits. She still curls her hair all over each day with the curling iron.

Me, I'm into no-muss, no-fuss hair these days and have returned to my hairstyle roots: a Pixie cut. I have no patience for drying or styling my baby-fine, straight hair on a daily basis (and even if it did, my hair won't hold a style for more than a couple of hours), and can't imagine adopting something so high maintenance.

I wonder if the urban legends about women finding spider's nests in their hair will start to resurface...

The Woman In The Grey Flannel Suit

Not really. Or I should say, not anymore.

Dressing for work used to be more straightforward. In the early 80's, the John Malloy skirted suit and blouse, supposedly the women's equivalent of a man's "power suit," was de rigeur. Despite this, I was cutting my corporate teeth in jobs at small media outlets that hardly paid enough to spring for the occasional thrift-store skirt or dress and non-matching jacket, let alone an actual suit. Add to that living in a small town with limited shopping options (how did we ever manage without the internet?!), and I was lucky to have more than two or three barely work-appropriate ensembles. (BTW, I still lust after that black cocktail dress that Melanie Griffith's character "liberates" from Sigourney Weaver's closet and is wearing when she slams down some tequila with Harrison Ford.) In the late 80's, Liz Claiborne helped save us from corporate clone-dom. Her clothing line started infusing the concept of "style" back into working women's wardrobes. I was able to afford the occasional jacket or pair of pants for work. Looking back now, they probably were a bit dowdy for a 20-something woman, but her clothes were several steps up from the thrift store attire* I'd been sporting.

In the 90's I started moving up the management ladder, and graduated to pants suits. For several years, getting dressed for work was a snap. Jacket, pants and a blouse, sweater or shell. Pumps or loafers. Fashion was irrelevant to the process. You weren't expected to look "stylish," you were expected to look professional. It was boring sure, but uncomplicated.

Then came Business Casual, which has turned into a free-for-all. In the entertainment industry, even the "suits" don't wear suits anymore, unless they're Ari Gold.

Those us who have been in a corporate work environment for a more than a few years probably struggle the most with just how casual Business Casual has become. This USA Today article discusses the generational differences in attitudes about what's appropriate for work.

"Each generation seems to have a different idea of what is acceptable in
the workplace, and in this situation I was highly offended," says Cohen, who
works at a marketing firm in Philadelphia. "I was actually not allowed to attend
a meeting because my attire was deemed 'inappropriate.' People my age are taught
to express themselves, and saying something negative about someone's fashion is
saying something negative about them."

The article also goes on to state that many companies are backing away from Business Casual and adopting stricter dress codes,

"The pendulum has swung," says CEO Jonathan Bloom. "We went through a
too-casual period. … In the aftermath of the dot-com bubble, we tightened things
up a little. When we were very casual, the quality of the work wasn't as
good."

Others are getting strict. In Auburn, N.Y., the city manager made
headlines in April when he banned most city employees from wearing jeans on
Fridays, a day that had long been reserved for casual attire. His office did not
return calls seeking comment.

but I don't envision that happening anytime soon at my company. Our people have grown accustomed to casual attire, and I don't imagine they'll give it up without a fight. I see more of IBM's attitude in our business.

Some companies, such as IBM, have thrown out dress codes altogether. Once
known as a traditional company of button-down shirts, cuff links and
pinstriped
suits, today it's a much more anything-goes approach.

"As society has changed, so has IBM," says Donna Riley, a human resources
vice president at IBM. "We do have a Birkenstock crowd in some of our locations.
Many years ago, it was a suit and tie for men and skirt, dress and stockings for
women. (Today's policy) says we trust our employees to use good judgment."

In an IBM research lab in San Jose, Calif., Dan Gruhl, 35, a researcher who
works in text analytics, typically shows up in flip-flops and shorts. He owns
only two button-down shirts.
"Having a relaxed environment encourages you to think more openly," Gruhl says. "Dress is part of a much larger culture.
It really encourages camaraderie."

Most of our staff are in their 20's and 30's, and most expect to be able to dress casually in the workplace. We don't work face-to-face with clients or meet the public, and most of the rest of the workers in our building are engineering and production types who more often than not come to work looking like they just rolled out of bed (cargo shorts, t-shirt, rubber flip-flops). We tried to revamp the dress code a few years ago to accommodate a more casual standard, but eventually had to abandon it altogether. We do however, have lines that are sometimes crossed, and we've occasionally had to ask people to go home and change. (I had to explain to one young woman why a tight tank top with the word "BOOTYLICIOUS" emblazoned across the chest in glitter script was not appropriate office attire.)

Our HR folks have even encouraged Management to dress down a bit in order to project a more"approachable" image to the staff. So I've dialed it down from pants suits through the "coordinated separates" and now often wear jeans (but nice jeans) on days other than Fridays.

But I remain dependent on The Jacket. Even jeans and a plain t-shirt will look pulled-together with a good jacket. I probably splurge a bit more on jackets now than any other article of clothing**, because of the power they have to make or break an outfit. Now with the weather too warm for all but the lightest jackets, I'm often feeling sartorially incomplete, and have on occasion resorted to wearing a blouse jacket-style over a t-shirt or shell. There's only so far into the casual ocean this femme will wade at the office.

*not to say that I didn't find some fabulous fun, quirky, unique items in my thrift store heyday. But a vintage bowling shirt didn't meet the benchmarks for "business attire" back then.

**except for handbags and shoes, of course. A great pair of shoes and a dynamite bag will make whatever your wearing look more stylish.

Feeding Frenzy!

Otherwise known as the Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale.

I was actually paying attention this year, and came home with some nice new wardrobe and makeup additions, most of which at a nice markdown. (Hey, we all need a couple of rationalizations to get through the day.)


I'd "pre-saled" (is that a verb now?) the MAC Brush Set and MAC Coral Lip set so went in to pick those up today, and in a whirlwind 45 minutes, came home with those plus a Laura Mercier Lip Plumper (which I really like--the color is sheer and makes my lips look smoother), and also with this jacket , (I'm so going to be known as That Older Chick With All of the Cropped 3/4 Sleeve Jackets.)





these shoes, (can you tell I'm loving grey this season? It's the new black!)

And some more Footpetals (essential if you want to go sockless and avoid Sweaty Foot).

The thing that I love about this Nordstrom's sale is that it's the new stuff, so sizes aren't picked over. I was actually able to find my size in everything I looked at today, which is nothing short of a miracle for a big sale. If I have a chance this weekend, I may go back and peruse some more. Or maybe common sense will prevail. Between this loot and the two custom bags I've ordered (more on that later) I'm going to be on a spending hiatus between now and December!

More Love

I'm also really loving the cropped swing jackets like this one from Banana Republic that are everywhere now. My husband doesn't, and refers to them as my "Mamie Eisenhower" jackets. "No," I correct him, "Jackie Kennedy."

What I'm Loving This Week

1. Wrinkle resistant white and black blouses. Now that summer has finally found us here in LA, these will be the staple of my work attire for the next couple of months.

2. These black patent wedge skimmers from Stuart Weitzman. I'm finding these days that a 1-2" heel is most comfortable for me. These are quite comfortable and look great with a skirt or pants.

3. Fat Bastard Chardonnay. How can you pass up a wine with that on the label? And it was on special at $8.99 per bottle. Turns out it's a very nice, drinkable white wine at a nice price, so I went back and picked up a few more bottles while it's on sale.

4. Sushi. But that's on my list every week.

5. Not Your Daughters Jeans cashmere wash wide leg jeans. They are wonderfully proportioned, comfortable and fit like a dream. The fabric is very soft and light.

6. Blueberries. Still in season, and still delish.

7. Pale, sheer polish on the toes. Keeps looking good in between pedicures.

The Price of Beauty

OK, this NYT article has been making the rounds in the blogosphere, and may I just say, What. The. Fuck. $1000 per week on a beauty regimen???? And I thought I was high maintenance with getting my hair cut and colored every 5 weeks, and a pedicure every 2 or 3 during the summer. While I do think there's a little bit of New York superiority complex informing the article ("oh, those silly, shallow LA women!") it's just scary how someone can live in such a bubble that this is considered "typical." And even pushing aside the expense, who has the time to devote to all of the blowouts and hours in hyperbaric chambers to keep skin "baby soft"???


Naomi Wolf was right.


I've been trying to streamline my skincare routine lately, and eliminate products that are unnecessary. I have my favorites; some are a bit pricey, others not so much. My skin has tended to be on the oily side most of my life, though I notice it's getting less so as I age.


Cleansing: I don't use soap on my face anymore, or purchase expensive cleansers. My #1 top favorite product is St. Ives Apricot Scrub. My skin isn't particularly sensitive, so I use this every couple of days. To remove what little makeup I wear anymore, I like Pond's Clean Sweep Towlettes. Other than that, I just rinse well with warm or cool water.



Sunscreen: During the day, I've started skipping the moisturizer and just using a heavy duty sunscreen instead. My current fave is the one I bought in France, and I've just found a way to order online from Canada (the active ingredient, Meroxyl, is not yet available in the US above an SPF 15). With the skin cancer that runs in my family, I've taken to wearing at least an SPF 50 daily. Neutrogena also makes a nice SPF 70, but I've found that it doesn't soak into the skin as well, and sometimes I'll notice some white streaks a few hours later where I didn't quite rub in enough.



Eyes: I'll cop to using expensive eye creams. I've tried the drugstore brands that everyone recommends, but have mostly found that the texture just isn't the same and doesn't soak in, or worse, the fragrances irritate the skin around my eyes. I don't have a lot of wrinkles, but have started getting the crepe-y, saggy skin above my eyes. The one exception to my preference for expensive products are the Olay Regenerist Dermapods. At first I thought, "what a gimmick!" but started reading some good reviews on beauty product blogs. I've been using these for a week, and they do really seem to work. I've never had much trouble with undereye circles or bags, but they do seem to smooth out the stuff I've got going on on the upper lids. You're only supposed to use them 3x per week, so in between I'm still using the pricey stuff (currently Clarins).



The only time I use a heavy duty moisturizer anymore is at night. I tend to find Lancome Primordiale Nuit works best for me. One jar lasts me several months. I did try the Olay Regenerist Night Recovery Treatment but again find the texture is a little waxy and it doesn't feel like it soaks in.

I don't use a toner anymore, as I've read in enough places that they don't really do anything except dry out the skin. I think I have my routine down to the basics. Mornings it's rinse with water, eye cream, sunscreen. Nights it's makeup removal, scrub (usually 4 or 5 times/week), eye cream and moisturizer. If I'm going to be outdoors and in the sun, I have an SPF 30 eye cream that I'll use instead of the regular.

There's only so much money and time I'm willing to spend on maintenance. I believe that aging isn't a crime against humanity, and will never be one of those women who goes to extraordinary measures to look younger. I don't have the time, and can't justify the expense.