Madame Prada and Me

Prada leather and nylon tote from one of my favorite seasons, stud-crazy Fall 2009

I had an idea of what the perfect leather tote would be, and this one comes pretty darn close. Horizontal, roomy, with small handles and a shoulder strap, and rather spare. I really wasn't in the market for a bag at that time, but the salesman at the Prada boutique in Monaco said that this is the bag Madame Prada carries to work everyday. Needless to say, I was sucked in! He had me at "Madame Prada". Whether or not he says that about every bag in the shop, I'd rather not know.

It isn't the lightest bag ever made, and the hard briefcase handles blister my baby-soft hands. Yet I've been lugging it around non-stop for the past couple of months: all around Europe, back to Boston, then New York, and now, halfway around the world to my hometown of Manila.

I've attached a salad of old-school toys to keep the bag from looking too work-y. (robot keychain from a shop in St. Paul de Vence, Lego keychain, miniature Magnetic Poetry and Etch-a-Sketch toys).

My favorite feature might have to be the bag's closure, of which I am rather anal: the top zips up, yet when unzipped, the zipper teeth fold gracefully inward with the bag's leather "lips" for you to be able to use the bag as an open tote without the teeth scratching the items you take in and out of the bag.

Miss Miuccia, I think your men's line is one of the very very few Milan-based collections worth watching out for. For a profitable and rather mainstream luxury brand, you still manage to design goods directional enough to be at par with the Belgians. Now, if you could kindly resurrect men's Miu Miu, I will love you forever.

runway photos via GQ.com