one hundred bags

A couple of weeks ago I went to my regular salon to get my hair fixed.  I was transferring to a new department and I figured I needed a new look.  Besides, it was the New Year.

My regular stylist wasn't around, so they asked me if it was okay if another stylist did my hair.  It was, and so Erika was called over.  She (he) was very thin, tall and tottering in her high heels, talked nonstop, and looked like she had a quarrel with her eye shadow palette.  She decided I needed to look glamorous, and she said she'd make me look like this antagonist Amor in this long-defunct TV show that I didn't even recall.  The trick with these stylists was to agree and make encouraging noises while they talk, lest they get carried away and I'd end up looking like a chicken that had a close encounter with a hawk.

And so, as she dyed and chopped my hair, I listened to her New Year's resolutions.  She said this year she'd start a collection, and she wanted 100 bags.  Not expensive ones, mind, because what can one afford on a hairstylist's salary these days?  And she doesn't mean buying all of them; she asks for bags as gifts, or takes hand-me-downs from friends.  

I was flabbergasted.  What would one do with a hundred bags?  We often hear about celebrities and their expensive bags in glass-fronted cabinets, but these people make a living out of showing off.  An ordinary working girl would carry a bag for about 240 days in a year, a few days more if she went out on weekends.  If you had 100 bags, you'd use each bag 2.4 times in a year.  I would consider it a great waste.  

I asked Erika what she'd do with her hundred bags at the end of the year.  She said she'd do a garage sale, then she'd think about her collection for the next year.

It brought to mind an officemate of mine, Sheila, who said she only had three bags: an office bag, a casual bag, and a dress-up bag for more formal occasions.  I was equally amazed at that.  Sheila said she'd use a bag till it falls apart, which may take years, considering that she bought Longchamp bags.  I admire the no-nonsense reasoning in that.  Three bags.  

For me, a bag was a receptacle for an umbrella, a small makeup kit that also contained Dolfenal tablets and mechanical pencils, a wallet, a hankie and my keys.  My bag should be spacious, sturdy, and doesn't easily get dirty.  I liked them to match my outfits, or better, my shoes.  I have about a dozen bags, but I regularly use only three or four, since I dress in neutral colors.  If I could have only three bags, like Sheila, I guess I'd get myself Hermes bags, so I'd feel like Jinkee Pacquiao, but then maybe I'd wrap them in plastic bags if it rained on my way to work.  Such bags are not meant for commuting working mothers.  Now if I were Erika, and I had some closet space, I'd get some Kate Spade, and some from Charles & Keith, and some from SM Department Store, only I'd probably sigh over them every day, because it would be such a shame to own so many things and not use them well, and I would be saving up for each piece that I add to my collection.  Remember me equating Promil pre-school milk for a pair of shoes a couple of years back?

Two hours' worth of chitchat later, I left the parlor with copper-red hair, and I was quite sure Erika did not succeed in making me look remotely like Amor-whoever-she-was.  I also had a few arguments with myself over the issue of bags.  

It's always nice to get a new bag, only I cannot justify buying one on a whim since I still have quite a few serviceable ones.  Now, for the sake of argument, let's say I could get rid of a couple of Nine Wests in their dust bags, the ones I very rarely use.  That would bring me closer to Shiela's bag count and I'd probably feel very efficient.  Now, arguing further, I could give the bags to Erika, bringing her closer to her dream of a hundred bags.  I admire her for the sheer fun-ness of that goal, and I would maybe see her at the end of the year to ask if she succeeded.  

But I am not Erika nor Sheila.  Getting rid of a few bags would leave quite some space in my closet.  So taking the argument further, one could say that a new bag would fit there quite nicely.  Well... the pretty bag in the picture is Anne Klein's It Takes Two handbag, $89.  

I could give it some thought, until my next haircut.