Style Cynics

When I was a schoolgirl, I had a green canvas messenger bag that I carried until an ink stain rotted through the bottom and punched a good-sized hole through the fabric. I used to pin all sorts of buttons and jewels to the front of it – my idea of a fashion statement, I guess. I had one favorite button, a mother-of-pearl, shiny moon and star made of enamel. I lost that button one day in a fire drill and never saw it again – and I’ve missed it ever since. Now, I know I’ll never find another like it, but Marc Jacob’s newest messenger bag, the Stones Joseph Messenger, reminds me strongly of the bag I once had, and the button that once adorned it.

Berry, berry quite contrary…in Mark Jacobs that is when it’s this vivid berry colored quilted stam.

And what exactly is a stam? I wasn’t quite sure either, but after looking for 10 minutes via my search engine I gave up hope and realized it’s probably one of those fashion-forward words that haute couture designer types like to use to make the rest of us feel like silly little creatures.