How to put the Great Shoe-Bag Theory to use
Don’t have any snakeskin Jimmy Choos? Well, relax, neither do I. Just because I bought a pair of Pradas at seventeen doesn’t mean I’ve always had the cash to drop on such high-ticket items. With college came what I like to refer to euphemistically as “the lean years,” followed—sadly—by those years of my early financial independence just after college, a period I prefer not to think about at all but when pressed will refer to as “the dark ages” of my fashion evolution.
During this time I had little spare cash to spend and even less inclination to shop when faced with the prospect of combing through stores filled with lots of lovely things I had almost no means to purchase. But, being a young thing with a penchant for going out and a gaggle of impossibly stylish friends, I knew I somehow needed to find a way to put on a good fashion face, so to speak.
Fortunately, Jaime’s little secret inspired me to put The Great Shoe-Bag Theory to work for me. I funneled what little spending money I had (along with the occasional injection of cash from my parents on a birthday or special occasion) into—you got it!—a couple of nice purses and two or three stunning pairs of shoes. I got creative and mixed and matched them with a rotating selection of basics I already had in my closet and—voila! The Great Shoe-Bag Theory began to work for me too, and the compliments began pouring in.
If Jaime was in earshot when they did, I’d send a wink her way.
