Fashion

WITH THE RIGHT BAG

you become someone from nobody

They say that with the right shoes you conquer the world, and you certainly shouldn't forget the bag. I remember the most characteristic incident. I, still editor-in-chief at Marie Claire, had a wonderfully sweet new marketer. Beautiful, fun, and talented. Only downside: she was young. And sometimes people find it hard to take big things from young people seriously.

Anyway. Maureen, that was her name, was going to present her new marketing plan to the big shots from Paris who were visiting our Dutch branch for a day. I presented our figures in the morning and had a lovely lunch with them. But the afternoon was for Maureen. You can imagine she was quite a bit nervous. Dancing for the French is not something you do every day. What should I wear, May? Help!

Now, Maureen's style was always top-notch and quite luxurious, but a good designer bag would not look bad on her. Since 27-year-old girls don't exactly stockpile expensive it-bags, I lent her my Tod’s bag. “Tod’s stands for class, has a businesslike appearance but is also fashionable. And Lady Diana always wore it too. In fact, this one is named after her,‘ I said to Maureen.

The day of judgment had arrived. Maureen was almost cracking in two from nerves. Especially when she picked up our French friends at the reception and felt everything about them indicated they had no idea who she was. She parked them in the board room, placed her bag on a chair, and walked away to grab her laptop. As she walked away, Maureen (who spoke a decent amount of French) heard the second highest boss say to the highest boss: “Who is she?” To which the highest boss replied: “I have no idea, but she must be somebody.” “How do you know?” asked the second highest boss, to which the highest boss replied: “She’s wearing a Tod’s bag.”