Dear Tammy,

My new Frederic T Overnighter arrived on Monday, just as you said it would.

What you didn’t say was that it would be absolutely PERFECT!!!!!

Tammy, just so I don’t get your hopes up: I must confess that I am definitely NOT a handbag addict. The thought of moving the contents of one bag to another more than, oh, once every DECADE makes me break out in a cold sweat. That’s how I lose things like keys, wallets, half-read books……makes me shudder to think about it. So I probably won’t be buying another Frederic T handbag any time soon.

But you need to understand, Tammy: my new Frederic T Overnighter is my first new handbag purchase – the first that I love and will be using on a daily basis – in FIFTEEN YEARS!!!!

No, I am not kidding. For the last fifteen years, I have been using a big black duffle, very stylish, made of very supple, sturdy leather (and lined with the same leather) with a pouch-like shape and closure – and nothing else, because it held everything, and I couldn’t find anything I liked to replace it. I’d still be using it now, but it’s become too heavy. I can no longer carry anything on my shoulder (maybe because I’ve been lugging around such a heavy bag for fifteen years, ya think?). I needed a bag to replace The Mother Ship, as my old bag was known by all.

For TWO YEARS I have been trying to replace the Mother Ship. The replacement couldn’t have straps that fit over my shoulders. It couldn’t be so big that I could stuff the unabridged Oxford English Dictionary into it, but it had to be big enough to accommodate my “pods”: my wallet, my lunch, my makeup bag, a newspaper, an umbrella, and a couple of file folders, without crushing anything. What’s the point of carrying a purse that can’t hold everything you need every day? I don’t want to carry a purse AND a briefcase AND a lunch bag AND…..AND. You’d think I could find SOMETHING that didn’t look like a man's briefcase, that didn’t come in some vile sherbet-flavored hue or a stain-resistant fabric that wasn’t, and (most importantly) one that didn’t have magnets anywhere near the zipper pouch where things like a bus pass should be kept, so they won’t get demagnetized (I think this is a phenomenon of a culture that doesn’t use mass transit much. Any handbag designer who has had to take a bus or a train on a regular basis would have figured this one out). I thought I’d found a replacement about a year ago, but no -- it was an overpriced piece of crud from a manufacturer who shall not be named but who is popular with the chic throw it away in a year set – the folks I call the “hipoisie.” Its lining started tearing after one day’s use, and I demagnetized about six transit passes in as many months of using it. Good thing I paid a clearance price for that bag, because it sure wasn’t worth the manufacturer’s suggested retail.

I had just about given up, but one day I entered the right word string and binkbags.com showed up at the top of the Google search list. I clicked on the link, and there it was: my new Mother Ship!!!!!!

I love it, Tammy. It is the perfect size. It’s made of good, sturdy leather but it’s not too heavy. The thick fabric lining is folded and stitched to the bag’s zipper facing (instead of being tacked to the top opening of the bag), so it’s not going anywhere. Its styling is absolutely timeless AND chic (take THAT, hipoisie!). It’s not too dressy and it’s not too casual. And it doesn’t have magnets near the zipper pouches!!!!!

And of course it’s French. The French just seem to know how, don’t they? ANYway, I thought you might get a giggle out of my tale of handbag woe with a happy ending.

Thank you again. And don’t worry – I may not be buying another Mother Ship until the next millennium, but any handbag addict (or scout) I encounter will be guided to the Bink way of handbags.

Live long and prosper, Tammy!

Love,

M. A.
San Francisco, CA