Hat contests, trunk shows, bra fittings

Designers from New York and Los Angeles descend on the Triangle this weekend for the Trendsetting Fashion and Trunk Show, Saturday from 6 to 9:30 p.m., at ArtSpace in downtown Raleigh. The event's featured designer is Brooklyn native Swiyyah Akhtab whose Swiyyah Couture line is filled with street chic pieces in leather, bold prints and color block designs.

Tickets are $20 and available at 339-1605. ArtSpace is at 201 Davie St., Raleigh.

Go with hat in hand

Ladies and gentlemen, break out your hats. Even if you're not going to the Derby, you can still get in on the millinery fun at Capital Club 16's Kentucky Derby Party and Hat Contest, Saturday from 3 to 7 p.m. Hats will be judged on overall style and originality, and contestants are encouraged to be extravagant and flamboyant. The restaurant will also serve a special Derby menu, complete with mint juleps. Capital Club 16 is at 16 W. Martin St., Raleigh.

For you bag ladies

This might be the weekend to finally make that road trip to the new Tanger Outlets in Mebane, because the annual Mega Purse Sale is just down the road at the Burlington Outlet Village. The sale, Saturday, 9 a.m.-noon, features new and gently used bags from brands such as Coach, Nine West and Guess, with no bag priced higher than $75. Proceeds will benefit Alamance County area schools through the Newspaper in Education literacy program and ACE's educational services and programs. For more information, visit www.megapursesale.com.

In the trunk and beyond

Trunk shows, exclusive sales and grand openings - it's all going down this week at local stores:

Monkee's of Raleigh hosts a Leona trunk show, through Saturday. The show includes new pieces from the label's spring and summer lines. Shoppers can save 10 percent on purchases during the event. Monkee's of Raleigh is at 4158 Main at North Hills, Suite 100. 785-1400.

Gena Chandler has the latest spring and summer looks from Los Angeles designer Rachel Pally during a trunk show today, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Pally will be in-store to meet fans and help customers choose styles. Gena Chandler is at 4209-106 Lassiter Mill Road at The Alexan North Hills, Raleigh. 881-9480, www.genachandler.com.

Help fight breast cancer and ill-fitting bras at the Wacoal Fight for the Cure event at Belk in Crabtree Valley Mall, Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wacoal fit specialists will be on hand to measure and fit women for bras, and shoppers will receive a tote bag with an $80 Wacoal/b.tempt'd purchase. For every woman who receives a fitting, Wacoal will donate $2 to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation and an additional $2 per woman with purchase.

Gypsy Jule, a women's boutique in Glenwood South, will celebrate its grand opening Friday, 6-9 p.m. The shop, which features casual clothes with a So-Cal vibe, will have live music, cocktails and food from The Rockford. Gypsy Jule is at 520 N. West St., Raleigh. www.gypsyjule.com.

On Saturday, it's all about shoe lovers at Macy's at the Streets of Southpoint. Starting at 2 p.m., the store hosts the Shoe Diva Shopping Party, featuring mocktails, candy and a ballet performance. Macy's shoe experts will offer one-on-one shoe style consultations, and there will be a fashion show of the latest footwear trends. Shoppers will also receive a goodie bag with the purchase of two pairs, while supplies last. For more information, call 361-7039.

Usually, store events are geared for the ladies. But Belk's Men's Night Out is all about the fellas. At the Crabtree Valley location Wednesday, men can browse the newest spring suits, suit separates, sport coats, dress slacks, dress shirts and ties at 25 percent to 65 percent off original prices. Shoppers can also register for a chance to win a $2,500 Belk shopping spree. For more information, call 782-7010.

Style and a good cause

The Spectacle and Vivace are teaming up to host the third annual Walk for Wishes to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Wednesday, 6-9 p.m., on Vivace's patio at North Hills. The open-air event will feature a fashion show with models dressed in clothing and accessories from Uniquities, Whalebone Urban Surf Shop and The Spectacle, with makeup and styling by Luxe Beauty Boutique and Von Kekel Salon Spa. Admission is free, and a limited number of VIP tables are available for $100 and $200. To reserve a table, call 787-7747.

 

Send Stylin' news and tips to Jennifer Bringle at jenniferbringle@gmail.com.

Why I'm glad the It bag is over

As Jil Sander's £90 Market Bag is hailed as having killed off the It bag, Celia Walden explain why her own infatuation with expensive designer holdalls was only ever short lived

Victoria Beckham, who single-handedly killed off the It Bag

 

 

Fashion - hyperbolic beast that it is  loves to declare trends "dead". Only then can there be the immense pleasure of bringing them back. Maxis are dead.. and now they're back! Double denim is dead.. but lo and behold, it's back! Years ago, I read that "bottoms" were back. Imagine how mortified I felt, having walked around with my derriere for months, completely oblivious to my enduring faux pas.

But if the vagaries of fashion magazines leave you dizzied, you can seek comfort from the fact that on one subject, at least, they are unanimous: the It bag is dead. Not just dead, but putrid and decomposing, with the interlinked golden Cs on a Chanel flap bag left only to be dug up by archeologists.

Of course, you wouldn't know it from the way celebrities are still touting their Birkins and their Mulberry Alexas. But with their underdeveloped sense of self-worth, they need an £1,500 price tag to make it clear that they're a cut above the rest of us. The real fashion elite, however, are eyeing up the It bag's unlikely successor: an orange plastic holdall dubbed The Market Bag.

Created by designer Raf Simons for the Jil Sander spring/summer 2011 collection, the plain plastic shopper has none of the signature hardware - name plates, padlocks, keys or bells - normally associated with an It bag. For starters, it's not nearly expensive enough, costing a mere £90. Made from an almost see-through orangey-red acetate, it could almost be mistaken for a Sainsbury's carrier. As pictures of the Market Bag did the rounds of the office yesterday, an Emperor's New Clothes-like murmur went up from the women.

"It's, er… Well, it's um…" Offensively ugly? Absolutely. But then again, so are most It bags.

Back in the 1990s when the term was first coined following an explosive growth of the handbag market, I was given my first and only It bag by a boyfriend. It was one of the few classic beauties, a dark pink Chloé number, and the power of the thing blew me away. I would walk into parties with it dangling from my forearm (it is terribly vulgar to wear it in the crook of your inner-elbow, like Victoria Beckham) and marvel at the fact that the bag was the focus of attention.

I could feel the heat of female covetousness as I pretended to make small-talk, too conscious of 'the bag' to take in what anyone was saying, too worried about spilling a drop of wine on its premium quality cowhide to bring the glass to my lips. That bag felt like psychological artillery. Remember those iconic pictures of Grace Kelly cowering behind her Hermès bag as she was beseiged by paparazzi? It bags were a shield as well as a status symbol, there to scare away lesser mortals.

Out of the glare of social circles, The Bag suddenly seemed embarrassing and incongruous. Turning up at the Coach and Horses with a Chloé Paddington felt like walking into a romantic restaurant with a screaming infant in your arms. And where do you put the thing? Not on the beer-stained floor or the grease-marked table  so unless you're in Moscow, where the bags are so expensive that mini armchairs are provided to seat them in, you dangle it from your arm all night, like a gauche parent at a teenager's birthday party.

Increasingly, I began to leave The Bag at home, only finding it useful when I actively had to pretend to be someone else. Plus  and here's the nub - I'd secretly been feeling attracted to other, less ostentatious bags for some time. There was a studded burgundy bag from Whistles that was Z-list in status terms, and a plain leather satchel from an Ibiza market which was every bit as beautifully made as anything from Fendi. My It-bag, I realised, was like the searingly dull male model I'd dated for a few weeks whom I left, with no regrets, when he'd suggested on the eve of the 1992 general election that "it would be easier if all the political parties just joined together".

It bags will be back, but they're forever dead to me. There's something both insecure and demeaning about wanting to be identified and categorised by your clothing or accessories alone. Having spent centuries fighting against objectification, women don't seem to mind being overlooked, even ignored, for their YSL Muse or their Dior Samurai. Surely the real beauty of fashion is mysterious and idiosyncratic  the characteristic of the individual rather than the crowd.