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My aunts like to tell me that my mother used to be cool. Huge emphasis on the past tense. She smelled of leather and Doublemint gum and each time she came to visit her younger siblings she carried a new bag. When I was around eight years old, she introduced me to the source of her leather bags at a Coach outlet store in Vermont. The one thing I remember is the moment my olfactory senses burst when smacked in the face with the scent of handbags. My mother liked the pure leather finish and found her bags most exceptional when they hit that perfectly worn sweet spot.
It was only natural that I fell into her footsteps. By college I found myself fascinated by the idea of a good leather Coach bag but I had hit it past it's prime. No longer was it 'in' to purchase fine leather but instead the bags were covered in flamboyant patchwork and canvas. I never understood this trend or why the line outside of an outlet store would snake around through a makeshift rope line for people to get a coveted bag that no longer screamed classic but instead cheap and pedestrian.
So I moved onto a different brand. I should stop to tell you that for me it's not about luxury or the brand name but because I was brought up to believe in the value of a good quality and classic bag. One that could transition and see you through makeups and breakups and month old receipts. Despite vegetarianism, I have insisted on smooth, pliable leather that I like to put up to my face and sniff thoroughly. Regardless, I moved to Kate Spade during a sample sale about four years ago. The first two bags were canvas and nothing special, since I was still in that testing them out phase before going into straight up brand loyalty. When I finally bought my first leather bag from them it was a beautiful camel colored, hobo bag with rings at each end to hold the straps. It was those cute gold rings that brought me from elation to realizing that I hated that bag and it's inability to hold a book and a wallet AT THE SAME TIME. Meanwhile, I still had my large black Coach bag which was fraying at the edges.
I had hit bag EPIC FAIL.
In the meantime I was met with a variety of brands based on occasions and my whims. I have three camera bags, five laptop bags - all extremely utilitarian looking as opposed to chic enough to go without the laptop once in awhile - and a variety of under $20 purchases from H&M all bought to get me through the time being. Perhaps I'm making too much of my relationships with my purses but it is a) genetics and b) I do truly believe that a good purse can make or break an outfit. Even if my decisions in clothing aren't always the best case scenario I like to think that over the years I've been molded into an upstanding woman who takes pride in accessorizing.
That said, it was less than two months ago when I was perusing my friend Sarah's site and she had written about her current crushes. Included on the list was a luxe gray bag that was in the Oprah price range (meaning: maybe I should become a billionaire entrepreneur before purchasing this bag). It was from a brand I had never heard of before called Hayden Harnett. Based out of Greenpoint, Brooklyn it seemed like a relatively small, indie brand but once I clicked over to their site, I found the laptop bag of my dreams. And that was the hook. It was a bag that was functional for laptop carrying purposes but also cute enough to drag out sans laptop.
But wait! There was more. There were hobos and carryalls and crossbody bags and weekenders. It was like I had hit the jackpot of bags that almost no one else had. And the way Sarah raved about her four purchases, I felt that maybe my eternal bag search would no longer be going from one thing to another trying to find perfection. You see here was what I was looking for in a bag when I purchased my second Hayden Harnett: Brown or black leather. Large enough to fit all of my daytime necessities but could transition to evening without being awkward and bulky. Also large enough
