Chron columnist Leah Garchik is one of the coolest people I know, so I was disturbed to discover that I've been breaking one of my former colleague's cardinal rules: using those beneath-the-table/bar-hooks for my bag. However, after asking her about the issue, I think I might become a "purse on the floor" kind of person. Maybe you will, too?
In her column this weekend, Garchik says:
Use those little handbag hangers that clip on the side of the table only at home, perhaps for drying hand-washed dainties. Public use only offers proof that elegant women can be dorks.
Oh, no! I can't say I ever considered myself an elegant women, but I hoped not to be a dork! But these hooks are so...handy! Surely I am misinterpreting Garchik's remarks.
I emailed Garchik immediately to gain a greater understanding of what I've been doing wrong.
"I am so intrigued by this!" I wrote. "Is this really bad/dorky? Are the clips you're talking about the same thing as the hooks they have at (some) bars here in SF?"
Though this was a Sunday afternoon, Garchik is apparently never off the clock. She responded swiftly, saying:
Handbag hooks, to me, are the equivalent of tucking a tissue in one's sleeves. One is to avoid thieves, the other to avoid sneezing on one's hand. In both cases, I say, over-cautious.
Yes, one should try to avoid the worst (I keep my purse cross-body slung usually), but shouldn't be obvious about it. That said, having read a recent New Yorker piece on pick-pockets in Paris, I spent nearly every moment in the street clutching my handbag as if it were my six-month old baby. But still, there something about those hooks that reeks (of) suspicion...of the restaurant's other clientele and its standards of cleanliness.
I suppose if I carried one of those couple-a-thousand-buck purses, especially if it were yellow ostrich, I would worry about it getting a speck of dirt on it, might be tempted to hook it on the table. But I just think it looks too careful. Chic insouciance, that's the goal, even if muddled sloppiness is the effect.
While most "fashion dos and don'ts" make me feel like I'm being sold something, I think I might be buying into this argument! Like Garchik, I do not carry a "couple-a-thousand-buck purse." And one of the reasons why I don't (besides the part where I choose to spend my money on things like food and shelter instead) is because I hate the idea of looking like I am trying to hard, which I believe is the kissing cousin of "too careful." Now "chic insouciance," yeah, that I can get behind.
But undecided I remain, and am hopeful that SFist's thoughtful commenting community can help me make up my mind on this extremely pressing issue.
[Leah Garchik on SFGate]
[Pickpockets and paranoia in France/New Yorker]
