I know a special piece is meant to be mine when circumstances conspire to have such an item in my possession. I blogged about this apparently elusive Yves Saint Laurent tote that I had seen on Jak and Jil months ago as a shoot-for-the-moon option in my search for the perfect summer tote. I’ve since scoured boutiques and outlets in the Northeast USA and beyond, and all my resources online, and it was nowhere to be bought. Fast forward to a few weeks later, sitting pretty at the window of the YSL boutique in Tsimshatsui, Hong Kong, the bag I wanted was available---a special personal order not picked up by a terribly misguided customer.Yves Saint Laurent Sac Vavin tote in black leather
I’d typically be apprehensive of toting a bag with a logo larger than my head stuck on it, but I thought the idea of the handles and buckles morphing into a network of leather-roads winding and going up and over each other---much like the twisting flying roads leading to an airport terminal---forming the iconic YSL emblem was clever and subtly done.close-up of the thick textured leather emblem detailThe large open-tote style is infinitely functional. I’ve used it as a weekender on a trip to Boston, as a blanket bag for an afternoon of laying around in Central park, and as a picnic basket to a little dinner party last night.In a city where the young, beautiful creatures all wear things so homogenously obscure and nondescript, where laurels are won when people ask and then find themselves unfamiliar with who makes another’s clothes, I think it would be, for once, refreshing for people to know exactly who makes my bag, even from across the block.