In the Bag

I love a good leather purse, and the trapeze tote is all the rage right now. I'm kind of an extremist when it comes to bags: I like either tiny ones that you don't notice while you're dancing (small cross-body styles, I'm looking at you), or gigantic ones that will fit two magazines, a book, and a teacup pig. These fall into the latter category, and after years and years of buying perfectly rectangular totes (I'm a girl of habit, apparently), I am craving an interesting, off-kilter shape. Seriously. This is what happens when you write about fashion for a living: you begin to slip things like "crave" and "need" and "Come to mama" into daily conversation. The trapeze tote is perfectly slouchy (all the better to pair with rumpled tees and skinny jeans) yet unexpected. Plus, it's so versatile. Here are my favorite styles:

Clockwise from top: J.Crew leather tote, $328; jcrew.com, Alexander Wang leather tote, $975; alexanderwang.com, Céline calfskin purse, $OutOfMyPriceRange; celine.com

Alexander Wang's Soho Store

If I could have a shopping spree with one designer, it would probably be Alexander Wang (come on, he has an entire line dedicated to t-shirts!). The aesthetic of his designs is everything I look for in clothing: slouchy, black, and requiring little to no effort. And now, he's found another way to pluck my heartstrings: a fur hammock, which hangs lazily (and luxuriously) in Wang's new store in Soho. 

I want to spend hours in the store, trying on his clothes and napping in that hammock. I kind of want to take it home with me... in addition to those sunglasses, of course. And boots. I'm loving the store itself, too — the clean black and white palette is appropriately minimal, but offers so much by way of textures, like leather, fur, and marble. You can read more about Alexander Wang's new store here.

[photo cred to Kirstin Luce for the New York Times]